Hurricane Laura Evacuees Seek Assistance; Death Toll from Storm Rises Amid Stifling Heat - The Weather Channel

• Six people have died from heat-related illnesses since the storm.
• Evacuees aren't sure when they'll return home.
• The governor advised those taking shelter in Texas to stay put for now.

Evacuees in need of clothes and baby supplies.

Families living in cramped hotel rooms.

Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power or water.

A death toll that continues to rise among stifling late-summer temperatures.

This is what's happening in Louisiana, more than a week after Hurricane Laura roared ashore in the southwest part of the state, with high winds and storm surge that decimated communities in the its path.

(MORE: Wind, Falling Trees to Blame For Hurricane Laura Water Outages in Louisiana)

The state Department of Health announced on Friday that three more deaths were being blamed on Laura. Two men, aged 41 and 47, died of heat-related illness while cleaning up after the storm in Vernon Parish. A 59-year-old man in Calcasieu Parish died after being hit on the head by a falling tree limb.

That brought the total number of deaths in Louisiana to 23. All but five of those have happened in the days since the storm passed, including six from heat-related illnesses as temperatures soared across the region.

The weather has mostly returned to normal, but that still puts highs in the low-90s, weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Belles said Saturday.

The miserable conditions come amid widespread and continued power and water outages. More than 167,000 homes and businesses were still without power on Saturday, according to poweroutage.us. Hundreds of thousands had no running water or were under a boil water advisory.

Evacuees weren't sure when they would return home.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, center, and Mayor LaToya Cantrell, second from right, pass by a family at the health station as they tour the Family Resource Center set up for Hurricane Laura evacuees at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Friday, September 4, 2020.

(Max Becherer/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

"We need food, clothes. I don't even have a gown to sleep in," Mary Hotard, 80, told nola.com.

Hotard and her son are from Cameron, close to where Laura made landfall. They were among hundreds of evacuees who visited a reception center set up at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. The center is designed to be a clearing house of resources and assistance for evacuees, who are spread out at dozens of hotels.

Austin Hollingshead, from hard-hit Lake Charles, picked up shirts, pants and new Nikes at the center.

"The only thing I’m really shy on is underwear, but I’ll make it work," he said.

Nearly 12,000 evacuees were staying in more than 30 different hotels Thursday, mostly in New Orleans, with rooms paid for by state and federal funds.

The hotel sheltering plan is new, put in place to keep people out of group shelters during the coronavirus pandemic. It presents challenges for officials and agencies trying to reach those in need.

“You are dealing with 33 different properties, and having enough personnel that are required to be at every property … it’s staggering,” New Orleans Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Director Collin Arnold said.

Thousands of others who fled their homes before or after the storm were footing the bill themselves, many in Texas.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said the state is trying to secure more hotel rooms that can be paid for with vouchers.

Edwards also advised those that had evacuated out of state to stay put until more resources are available in Louisiana.

Many people whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Laura are hoping for relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA has so far approved more than 28,000 individual applications for assistance.

Meanwhile, evacuees wonder where they'll go next.

“The situation’s pretty bad,” Kayla Frank, whose home near Lake Charles was left without power and running water, also told nola.com.

Frank's family of six, plus a cat and guinea pigs, waited seven hours at a reception center in Metairie on Tuesday, hoping to get a hotel voucher. There were none left, so they all piled into a single room paid for with their own dwindling money.

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An aerial view from a drone shows clothing on racks of a businesses that's roof was ripped off as Hurricane Laura passed through the area on Aug. 27, 2020, in Lake Charles, La. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

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Hurricane Laura Evacuees Seek Assistance; Death Toll from Storm Rises Amid Stifling Heat - The Weather Channel
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