Damage from storm widespread; 1 dead

• By JEREMY HARPER AND DAVID MITCHELL
• Advocate staff writers
• Published: May 16, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A retired businessman from Grosse Tete died when a large pecan tree fell on his travel trailer Thursday morning, the only reported casualty of the two storm systems that slammed through south Louisiana this week.

Rescue workers found Sam Russo, 77, dead in his bed, said Maj. Johnny Blanchard of the Iberville Parish Sheriff’s Office. Russo, a Livonia native, operated a gas station in Rosedale and a store in Ramah before retiring.

As cleanup in south Louisiana began Thursday, some school systems closed while hundreds of homes and businesses remained without power.

The first of the two upper-level disturbances began moving through the area Wednesday afternoon. The second storm system formed around 5 a.m. Thursday, said Tim Destri, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Slidell.

“It moved at a pretty good clip today,” Destri said of the second storm system.

As of 9 p.m. Thursday, 845 Entergy customers in East Baton Rouge Parish and 4,000 in Livingston Parish were without power, Entergy spokeswoman Mary Broussard said. 

DEMCO had 3,700 customers without power at 9:15 p.m. Thursday, down from 25,000 at 9 p.m. Wednesday, spokesman Brent Bradley said.

Of those, 3,500 are in Livingston Parish around Watson and 150 are in East Baton Rouge Parish around Central, Bradley said.

DEMCO crews had changed out more than 130 poles and brought in 150 additional line personnel from across Louisiana and Mississippi, he said.

Baton Rouge Metro Airport recorded more than 6.5 inches of rainfall since Wednesday afternoon, breaking rainfall records on Wednesday and Thursday, said Bob Wagner, another meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Slidell.

Cleanup from the storms began in earnest Thursday in and around Baton Rouge.

In Central, residents and city workers assessed widespread property damage along the Hooper Road and Sullivan Road areas.

The city’s project manager, Tommy Higgs, said nearly every major Central roadway was blocked by trees Wednesday night. Crews had the roads open in about three hours, he said.