Hurricane Gustav passed through the area last night, knocking out power and causing property damage according to reports.Gustav was downgraded to a tropical storm over the course of last night, as it continued to dump rain on the state of Louisiana. According to Weather.com, 1.88 inches of rain fell in Grambling. There were no reports of flooding, and a few power outages were reported.
Ruston, however, received some damage. A lot of homes were without power last night and early today. There were some reports of homes still being without power today. A tree that lines Highway 80 fell onto a power line. It’s not clear if it fell last night or today.
“I felt like a refugee in my own home,” said Dacia Woods, a junior at GSU. “The lights went out last night at 8:30 and came back on at 10 this morning.”
Attempts to contact the City of Ruston about the restoration of power were unsuccessful by press time.
There was also some property damage in Ruston. At Lowe’s, some storage sheds were torn apart by the winds produced from Gustav. Gustav produced winds as high as 39 mph yesterday.
Reports of property damage also came from trees being down on houses.
“There are several houses with trees on them,” said Captain Stephen Williams of the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The Gramblinite will continue to cover this story for Thursday’s edition of the paper.