Baja St. Martin

I finally had occasion to drive to the intersection of Hwy. 1 and Hwy. 70 where the recent tornado struck and it is an awful sight. LeBlanc’s Concrete business is gone for all purposes. One yellow hopper still stands but that’s about it. The Hardware store across the road is a mess. The whole front is smashed in and while a back section appears to be in one piece, I was told the ceiling structure was bent and torn loose.
An Assumption Parish water tower across the other corner was demolished. It lies in a crumpled heap on the ground and it was just today, Feb. 29, that the water board was given the go-ahead from the insurance company to start cleaning up the mess.
The Assumption Parish Water District No. 1 where I and my neighbors get our water will be holding a special meeting in a week to decide what to do with the mess. The water tower, by the way, had 23.5 feet of water in it when the tornado struck, and at a recent meeting an engineer said the tower had been constructed to withstand winds of 150 mph. The official word is that this tornado was an EF3, I believe, but this man said he was pretty sure the actual wind was a whole lot more when it hit the tower and the hardware store.
I don’t know exactly how the wind speed of a tornado is figured, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t an exact science. That tower was big and strong and has survived quite a few hurricanes. Guess it doesn’t really matter now.
Actually, the home of a couple just a way down Hwy. 308 from the water tower and hardware store was ripped to pieces also. The entire top floor was taken off. One friend was heard to relate that when the wife crawled out of the bathroom where she’d sheltered she asked her husband, “Well, how bad is it?” and he replied, “Well, the front door is in the living room.” The couple had to crawl over the debris to get out of their house, but neither was hurt.
I have not been to the east of the hardware and concrete site, but I’ve learned that’s where the biggest damage occurred. Nearly 40 homes severely damaged. A friend who lives in that area said he got out of his home and walked up his street to see if his daughter and her children were OK. He couldn’t pass one way because of downed trees. She was OK but he helped several other people get out of their homes which had been destroyed. It’s really incredible that nobody was hurt.
I also drove on Hwy. 1016-2 in Belle River to see the A-frame house which everyone said had been blown off its foundations. The house actually looked just fine until you saw that it was partly on the floor beams and the north front was sort of digging into the ground. It was standing erect and didn’t appear to be damaged, but how it will ever be put back on the correct foundation is a mystery.
I understand the video of the FedEx driver who hid behind a Coke machine in front of the hardware store has gone viral. My sister in Michigan said she had seen it on her TV.
To the more mundane, local restaurants are selling boiled crawfish now for $3.99 a pound and I have to say they are pretty tasty. Although people are looking for spillway crawfish, as yet nobody has found the right spot. I don’t think it will be long. The water level is down and I’m sure it will be warming up with this nice weather. Hoping for the best, I have planted a dozen tomato plants, two short rows of green beans and a short row of carrots.

Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be e-mailed at lindacooke1939@gmail.com.