Although Hurricane Harvey hit Southeast Texas the hardest when it made landfall along the Gulf Coast in August, it brushed against Southwest Louisiana long enough to displace hundreds from their homes and warrant a visit from President Donald Trump — the first by a sitting president since Hurricane Rita in 2005.  

Harvey reached Texas late Friday, Aug. 25, as a Category 4 hurricane and gradually meandered east over the next few days before making final landfall in Cameron on Wednesday, dumping unprecedented amounts of rain in the Houston area and displacing tens of thousands in the nation’s fourth-largest city.

Over the weekend in Louisiana, the storm dumped 5 to 10 inches on Lake Charles and Cameron — a number that would exceed 17 inches by the time the storm dissipated. Late Sunday night, in response to requests on social media for a temporary shelter for the homeless, the city opened the Purple Heart Rec Center.

Trump on Monday issued a federal emergency declaration for several Louisiana parishes as heavy rains continued to inundate Southwest Louisiana, overburdening the drainage system in the Lake Charles area and causing widespread flooding. 

On Monday night, emergency responders and local volunteers, including the Cajun Navy, rescued about 450 residents in Lake Charles and the surrounding areas from their homes — many in the Greenwich Terrace area — as high waters rose and rendered roads impassable.

After evacuees maxed out capacity at Purple Heart, officials opened the Civic Center as a temporary shelter, which housed more than 300 displaced residents that week. Donations came to the shelter by truck from places like Chattanooga, Tenn., while volunteers cooked meals and handed out clothes and toys.

Shelter operations head Angela Jouett said roughly 2,500 people volunteered that week at the Civic Center, and later the Burton Coliseum, which opened on Wednesday night as a temporary shelter to house evacuees from Southeast Texas. Calcasieu Parish transit buses brought evacuees from the Texas-Louisiana border to the shelters.

On Tuesday, during a reprieve from the rain, Gov. John Bel Edwards paid Lake Charles a visit as the area prepared for the storm to make final landfall in Louisiana. Edwards urged residents to stay off the roads and not to let their guard down.

Early Wednesday morning, a weakened Harvey came ashore just west of Cameron. All eyes were now on west Calcasieu Parish, where the rain-battered communities of Vinton and Stark braced for Sabine River flooding expected that Friday, Sept. 1  

The Sabine River crested Friday at 31.5 feet — nearly 2 feet below the 33.3-foot level that caused widespread flooding in western Calcasieu Parish in March 2016, but still enough to submerge whole communities in sitting water for several days.

Sheriff Tony Mancuso said deputies helped eight or so people in that area get out of harm’s way Thursday, and a dozen more Friday, but he said most evacuated on their own. Many residents whose homes had flooded, such as Niblett’s Bluff Park caretaker Mark Nichols, went back and forth down flooded roads in boats that day to help others evacuate. 

The Sheriff’s Office set up two command centers to serve residents in the western part of the parish and their neighbors in Texas — one center on the corner of La. 109 and La. 12 in Starks and one in the parking lot of Hebert’s Grocery at La. 109 and La. 3063.

A possible visit from Trump had hung in the area throughout the week, but on Friday the White House confirmed it: Trump and Melania were coming to Lake Charles Saturday afternoon after spending the morning with flood victims in Texas. 

Trump didn’t make a public address during his hour-and-half stint in Southwest Louisiana on Saturday, but he did greet the governor and other leaders upon landing at Chennault International Airport, as well as first responders and members of the Cajun Navy at the National Guard armory on First Avenue.   

Hundreds of residents lined Legion Street outside Chennault as the presidential convoy passed by, and hundreds more awaited his arrival at the armory, waving U.S. flags and homemade posters with phrases like “We love Trump” and “FLOTUS Keep Rockin the Stilletos.”

After the Civic Center shelter closed that Saturday, local churches opened up their doors to provide evacuees with meals, showers, clean clothes and rest. Camp Pearl hosted 54 people and 10 pets and provided meals for others staying in area hotels.

Recovery

Local groups wasted no time moving from emergency response to recovery. They travelled door-to-door Monday, Sept. 4, during a collaborative effort called Labor Day of Love to sign people up for assistance through the Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster — or VOAD — database.

The following day, Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser toured flood-affected neighborhoods and encouraged volunteers to keep up the good work. 

“Whatever it takes — volunteer, money-wise — to get everyone back in their homes we’re going to stay the course,” Nungesser said.

Churches and community groups continued helping residents with long-term recovery over the next several months, as federal financial assistance remained uncertain.

Through a distribution center at Church of the King, over 1 million goods were distributed to more than 50 churches and 40 distribution sites throughout Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas, according to local United Way head Denise Durel.

Crews from the Carey Baptist Association, Louisiana Baptist and UMCOR with United Methodist cleared mud from more than 100 homes in Southwest Louisiana.

Residents donated to the Lake Charles Area Relief Fund at the Southwest Louisiana Community Foundation and the local United Way, which combined raised over $300,000 dollars for local recovery efforts, including mucking and gutting, mold elimination, drywall installation and helping in Southeast Texas.

“The best way to love your neighbor when they get 3 feet of water in their house is show up with a mop, some drywall and a smile on your face,” Bruce Baker, missions director at the Carey Baptist Association, told the American Press in October of ongoing recovery efforts.

President Donald Trump, joined by first lady Melania Trump, arrives Saturday at Chennault International Airport in Lake Charles. (Rick Hickman/American Press)

Rick Hickman