I cannot find what the total rainfall in inches was in Lake Charles from Aug. 25 to Aug. 31. Could you please tell me where to look for this information?

The preliminary rainfall totals at Lake Charles Regional Airport for that period, according to the National Weather Service:

• Aug. 25: 0.59 inches.
• Aug. 26: 0.25 inches.
• Aug. 27: 3.17 inches.
• Aug. 28: 6.87 inches.
• Aug. 29: 1.02 inches.
• Aug. 30: 0.38 inches.
• Aug. 31: 0.12 inches.

Total — 12.4 inches.

“Calcasieu Parish had a wide range of rainfall according to radar estimates,” Andy Patrick, meteorologist-in-charge at the weather service’s office in Lake Charles, wrote in an email.

“Near the Sabine River, over 20 inches of rain fell. Further east, rainfall was well below 10 inches.”

To view rainfall data, go to www.weather.gov/lch — the local office’s site — and click on “Local Data” under the “Climate and Past Weather” tab at the right.

On the next page, choose “Preliminary Monthly Climate Data (CF6)” under the “Product” heading and select a location and timeframe — either “Most Recent” or “Archived Data.” Then click “Go.”

Follow-up

Recent Informer columns included record crests for various points along the Sabine and Calcasieu rivers.

One reader asked for data on flooding on the Calcasieu at White Oak Park. But The Informer noted that the weather service website has no historical crest data for that point. Patrick explained why that is.

“The gauge at White Oak Park has only been in place for a couple of years,” he wrote in the email. “Also, forecast river stage information is not issued for White Oak Park, so normally historical crest information is not archived.”

For more, visit www.weather.gov/lch.

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Store, cleaners stood at overpass site

In the 1960s, there was a large grocery store at the corner of North Shattuck Street with its intersection at the railroad tracks, next to Esquire Cleaners.

Can you give us the name of that store?

The store, which stood at 104 North Shattuck St., was called Home Town Discount Supermarket. It was owned by the Tramonte family.

Esquire Cleaners, which was at 106 North Shattuck, was owned by Rufus Mayfield Jr., a one-time City Councilman. 

It was demolished in 1988 when the overpass on Shattuck was built.

“After 32 years at the only location from which I have ever operated, I am forced to vacate by April 29, 1988, because of the Shattuck Street Overpass construction,” reads a notice Mayfield published in the American Press in 1988.

“Please pick up the items you have left with me immediately.”

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The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.