MARYVILLE, TENNESSEE – On August 27, Hurricane Laura made a direct hit on Lake Charles, Louisiana as a Category 4 storm, wreaking havoc and causing major destruction in Calcasieu Parish as well as other areas of South Louisiana. Two Blount County deputies answered the call to assist with the relief effort.
For one of our deputies, it was personal. Cpl. Darin Gallow was born and raised in Lake Charles and he still has several family members, including his mother, who call Lake Charles home. A fellow Blount County deputy, Jason Murphy, also heeded the call to help. On September 1, the two deputies loaded up a trailer with items donated by fellow deputies, churches, and private citizens and made the trip south, spending several days assisting the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office with the clean-up and relief efforts.
“It was heartbreaking to see my family and my hometown trying to go on with life in the midst of the devastation,” Cpl. Gallow said. “We didn’t want to leave without fixing everything, but we had to come home to Tennessee and our families and jobs.”
As of today, clean-up efforts continue, and will continue for quite a while. It’s been two weeks since Hurricane Laura made landfall, and most of the area is still without electricity and non-potable water.
Sheriff James Lee Berrong is asking citizens to keep the victims of Hurricane Laura in your thoughts and prayers as they try to move on amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and other life’s challenges.