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Delta damage in Lafayette's Northside: Neighbors are helping

Posted at 2:23 PM, Oct 11, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-11 15:23:44-04

Dmani Washington was sheltering at home, laying in bed during the storm, when a tree crashed into her room.

"I was laying in bed on my phone and then I looked up and I just ran out," she said. The 17-year-old said that saved her.

"If I would've stayed in my bed I would've gotten hit with all kind of debris. I got hit with all kind of stuff in my eyes. I had to wash my eyes out for 15 minutes," she says.

Luckily, nobody was injured.

But across the city, falling trees caused destruction and power outages.

"The northside of town was completely dark, there was nothing. We had to police ourselves in our neighborhoods. If you ride in everyone of these neighborhoods on the northside of town, someone is sitting down outside, has a generator going," says Donald Meche.

"When I woke up I got to see trees and roots in my yard and then afterward, I gotta pick all that up," says Jaquai Richard.

The clean-up is already underway, and the most encouraging part for residents is that they don't have to go it alone. Neighbors and volunteers have pitched in to help.

"Seeing the same type of devastation and destruction here, it causes you to have compassion for people and to know if that we don't come together as a community then who else will help us? We're thankful for the outside resources but we'll survive we're resilient people and whatever comes, we'll just have to continue to pray," says Marlon Mitchell.