Local Businessman Went To Lake Charles To Aid Hurricane Victims

Hurricane Laura made landfall on Thursday, August 27, 2020, going right over Lake Charles, Louisiana, before making it's way north through Arkansas, weakening as it went.

As soon as the initial surge had passed, there were crews from all over heading into the area to help with rescue efforts. One of the people that made their way into the devastation of Lake Charles was Luke Tarbutton, owner of Shoot Perfect in Lufkin.

I got the chance to catch up with Luke today and talk with him about what it was like where the storm had gone through. "We actually followed the storm. We were right on the tail of it, of the outer bands of storms," he said. Luke left early Thursday morning heading towards the Lake Charles area in his truck, with a boat in-tow, because that was the only that they were going to be able to get to many of the houses where people were calling for help.

To give you an idea of what it was like, check out one of the Facebook live updates that he posted while on-site:

While there, Luke and a small crew proceeded to go from house to house, searching for people that were in need of assistance. "Of about 34 houses that we checked out, we found about nine or ten people that we had to save," Tarbutton said. One of the stories that he recalled was of a man that was pinned by a tree for nine hours. "This guy had a tree - literally - laying across him. He had been waiting for someone to come help him." They had to cut the tree, just to get this man out from underneath it.

But, personal houses weren't the only places where Luke and his crew helped out. They also went into assisted living centers to help residents. "We actually had to go into a couple of nursing homes - assisted living apartments, and help out 250 to 300 people that didn't have any help."

When asked about his thoughts on all that he had seen and experienced in Lake Charles, Luke had this to say, "It was insane. Yeah, insane and chaos are the only two things you can say."

Luke Tarbutton also gave us permission to show some of the photos that were taken while they were helping out. Check them out below: