LATEST: These are pictures from just outside Grand Isle, LA … a barrier island with about 1500 residents.

About 80% of the power poles are down in town and sand has covered parts of the main roadway.

I have taken this trip before in so many ways. The trip to see the wake of a hurricane that has just torn through neighborhoods, towns and fields.

The exact same trip down Highway 90 that heads south and then east from Lafayette through Morgan City, then into Houma and eventually onto New Orleans. My first hurricane back in 2002 had us in New Iberia, also along 90, where Lili seemed poised to flatten central Louisiana. While it did do some serious damage, like Gustav, it got to the coast and fell apart, but not before ruining the lives of many people. We also travelled 90 for Hurricane Katrina and a few weeks later surveying the damage from Rita.

I have dubbed 90, the hurricane highway for obvious reasons. A sad moniker since the highway runs through the heart of Cajun country. Across swamplands, bayou’s, fields of sugarcane, the road gives the traveller a view into the life of shrimping, crawdads and even gators. Unfortunately, we don’t get the chance to enjoy what might be seen most other days of the year, we instead see what now needs to be fixed, destroyed by the force of mother nature. The people however don’t seem to change.

Sure we meet people who are disappointed, hurt, upset at their luck, but in the end they endure. The people of the bayou are welcoming, more friendly than most and absolutely dedicated to staying and rebuilding.

As I sit here along the main road into Houma, I see all sorts of airboats towed by trucks, emergency and repair vehicles and Louisiana National Guard humvee’s. The soldiers have been a mainstay in these parts since Wednesday. In Morgan City and 32 miles east in Houma, they have monitored and followed the storm since last Wednesday. They now guard every exit off of the highway and also help patrol the streets. Many people evacuated from this region and they need to feel safe in knowing their homes are being watched and protected. If people return to homes that escaped the storm and any possible looting, they will be more likely to trust in knowing they can leave again…hopefully that wont be for some time.

Gustav has come and gone through Lafayette, leaving in his wake widespread power outages and uprooted trees. Majestic, once tall, proud Live Oaks are dethroned, pushed to the ground by the bully on the school playground. Correspondent Jonathan Serrie is doing lives from one of many locations just like that. Chainsaws will make firewood from one of these huge oaks that may last as long as the hundred years or more that the mighty oak had been growing.

Our assignment this trip has been to service our Fox network affiliates. It can be a grueling pace in the best of circumstances, but throw in some tropical storm force winds and rain and it’s a recipe for exhaustion. The affiliate service is called “The Edge.” Jonathan provides live coverage for individual market stations throughout the country often doing as many as twelve live hits in an hour. Every hour. Hour after hour. Fox television stations from coast to coast. Remembering station call letters. Remembering station co-anchors. Laura and Mark, Allison and Steve, Jack and Jill… or was that John and Jill?

On any given story when doing lives for Fox News Channel we typically will do one or two hits an hour. Our producers Dan Gallo and Brooks Blanton work behind the scenes coordinating these continuous live shots and juggle phones better than any circus clown. At least they have a fall back career path! They do a remarkable job taking care of all of the crews needs including hotels, food, public relations with “unfriendlys”, writing scripts, helping with video feeds… thier tasks are too numerous to list them all. We have the absolute best field producers in the business at FNC and they’re an integral part of what us “the big dog”!

For the state of Louisiana Gustav was a test. From the lessons learned from Katrina there have been remarkable gains in levels of preparedness on the part of both officials and residents alike. Residents heeded the warnings and evacuated and officials were able to better concentrate on handling this potential disaster. Gustav was no Katrina, but he provided the guidepost to lead gulf coast residents as they further prepare for the NEXT big storm… and there will always be a next storm. Hannah here we come!

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TUESDAY MORNING: AFTER THE STORM

It may be days before officials know the full extent of the damage. But initial site surveys in the wake of Hurricane Gustav suggest it was no Katrina.

Here in Lafayette, LA, there are spotty power outages and some fallen trees. A huge live oak that fell on a house has become the backdrop for our live shots today as we deliver reports for local FOX stations around the country.

Our schedule is almost as busy as yesterday, but considerably easier given that we’re not working in heavy winds and driving rain. To see what that was like, click on the video.

MONDAY MORNING: BRACING FOR THE STORM

Roughly 2 million people have evacuated the Louisiana coast. Further inland, residents are hunkering down in their homes or other shelters.

Here in Fayetteville, First Baptist Church has opened its doors to approximately 2 dozen residents who fled their mobile homes, fearing the high winds of the approaching storm.

We are also using the Church property as a shelter of sorts… for our satellite truck. We’re hoping buildings on three sides will shield the satellite dish from the winds and allow us to report live, even while the storm is making landfall.

We have a busy schedule planned. In addition to reporting for FOX New Channel, we are also slated to deliver live reports to local FOX stations around the country almost every five minutes throughout, what promises to be, an eventful morning.

Keep Reading …

7:32: Up to 200 homes in Plaquemines Parish could be at risk because of a levee being over topped. The Caernarvon Diversion levee is near the St. Bernard Parish line. It’s a private levee which means isn’t part of the federal levee system. Hurricane Katrina seriously damaged the levee three years ago and people living nearby had about ten feet of water in their homes. After Katrina, the Parish rebuilt the levee and raised it to about 8 feet. Despite their efforts, at about 3pm the levee was over topped.

The Caernarvon Diversion Levee protects the Braithwaite area. About 125-200 homes in Braithwaite could be impacted by floodwaters. There were people who stayed in Braithwaite to ride out the storm but it’s not known how many. Now they’re being urged to get out. The Sheriff’s Department is going door to door to help while Parish employees try to build up a section of the levee with sandbags

5:35: We are cautiously hopeful. Listening to the latest press conference about Hurricane Gustav, it looks like the majority of the region was able to escape major damage. In terms of flooding, there’s some reported in the Upper Ninth Ward because of overtopping, but the Army Corp of Engineers says New Orleans city pumps will take care of it. They’re also keep an eye on the Industrial Canal which has had “overlapping.”

Some of the areas they’re worried about are the southern coastal spots, places like Plaquemines Parish, Lafourche Parish and Grand Isle in Jefferson Parish. I haven’t been to Plaquemines, but I know they had evacuated all but a handful of employees, but then made a desperate call for contractors and employees to help build a sandwall to protect Belle Chasse. As for Lafourche, we had driven down to the southern tip, a community called Port Fourchon, for a story on Gulf drilling. From there we had jogged over to Grand Isle. It’s a stretch of mostly vacation homes and such on a strip of island. You could see how it might fare poorly in a hurricane. Officials says they haven’t heard much from these areas because power is out. They’ll start doing damage assessments from the air tomorrow.

We’re doing live shots on Canal outside our hotel just on the edge of the Quarter. It looks fine except for some minor damage, signs and trees batted around.