In Cameron Parish, Louisiana, 150 residents have refused to leave during the mandatory evacuation order ahead of Hurricane Laura.
“Out of 6,500 residents, most got out,” said Ashley Buller, Assistant Director of Emergency Operations for the parish.
“We have a lot of construction workers on (liquefied natural gas) LNG projects,” Buller added. Most of these workers aren’t parish residents and live in travel trailers — some evacuated, but others stayed in the trailers.
Parish sheriff deputies went door-to-door to encourage people to leave.
“(This is) the calm before the storm,” Buller said. “We have never experienced anything like this in our history.”
Hurricane Laura would be the third major storm to strike Cameron Parish in the last 15 years, after Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike. Water is the main concern: Hurricane Ike caused huge flooding, and parish officials are bracing for Hurricane Laura to be even worse.