What residents in St. Mary Parish woke to after Hurricane Laura

Destroyed by the winds from Hurricane Laura, farmers have a long road ahead to recover the sugarcane fields in St. Mary Parish.

FRANKLIN, La. (WGNO)- Now that Laura is moving north, we move to recovery mode. Residents in St. Mary Parish say that wind was the biggest problem. 

Driving into St. Mary Parish, it’s easy to see the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Laura. 

It didn’t get much better closer to town. 

Normally Franklin would be a charming place, but for now, it’s a ghost town. Shops boarded up, streets vacant, hundred year old oak trees lay flat and homes still dark. 

“Last night it was just spuratic. You know it would blow then it would stop and it’d rain and it’s blow and of course we have the tornado warnings,” said Anthony Peck, a resident in Franklin. 

Both Franklin and Jeanerette sustained winds that did the most damage and caused the most fear. 

“It woke my wife up. She went to bed at about 11 o’clock never did wake my baby up but, the wind blew pretty hard,” said Peck. “The wind blew pretty hard but, I have a couple of limbs in the back yard.”

Lucky to still have power when he woke up, Peck worried for his friends across town. 

“I went around and checked on some friends of mine.” Peck reported back saying, “they seemed to be doing good. I didn’t seem to see a tremendous of damage. Just some limbs.”

St. Mary Parish is right on the line that divides the state, where one side is devastated but, this side was spared. 

Unfortunately, the main thing not spared in Franklin and Jeanerette are sugarcane fields. The destruction Laura caused will be weeks of work for farmers.