We are all waking up to the devastation caused overnight by Hurricane Ida to the south Louisiana region. My hometown of Laplace seems to be one of the hardest hit areas and I sat hopeless and sad to see my town once again get destroyed by another storm.

Just like many of you who may have family and friends in the Southern Louisiana area affected by Hurricane Ida, the past few hours have been extremely stressful because of the inability to reach family and friends to get a status update on their situation.

Thankfully, most of my immediate family members who had the resources to do so, evacuated from the area, and I've been able to establish connections via social media with any other family members that may have stayed and they are safe.

Unfortunately there are still thousands in the area who maybe trapped due to flooding and other factors and their family and friends are desperate to find out more information or set up a line of communication with them right now. But the storms damage has knocked out power and cell service all over the area.

According to a report from WAFB in Baton Rouge, AT&T is reporting "significant outages" in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas. The cell company went on to add that its Louisiana wireless network is operating at 60% of normal and some customers are reporting that they have been able to successfully send and receive text messages.

Entergy, the state's electrical provider, is also reporting close to a million customers without power all along the storm's path which seems to have impacted the "River Parishes" between Baton Rouge and New Orleans the most.

Entergy
Entergy
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If you're having a tough time reaching family and friends in that area, might I suggest an app my family and others were using during this time called "Zello".

Google Play Store
Google Play Store
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The Zello app can turn your phone into a "Walkie Talkie" and doesn't need cell service. There are several channels created for Ida users on the app and its been the best way to keep up communication in these scary hours.

Please keep our Louisiana neighbors in your prayers and if you come across anyone that may have evacuated, offer a helping hand of compassion. We call could use some right now.

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