Some of your messages and notes to us

Comments of all sorts have come in from readers to our temporary e-mail address, which is lcamericanpress@gmail.com. Here are excerpts from some recent posts:

4:37 a.m. - "Tornado warning in Leesville. KALB: 10 inches of rain in LC at least."

4:02 a.m. - "Power out in Natchitoches."

11:53 p.m. - "I am a native of Lake Charles and my parents still live there. (They're in Monroe, where they report that it's just like Lake Charles because they know half of the 3,000 people at the shelter.) Thank you so much for your bravery in staying to provide use the updates. It is the kind of real local information that CNN reporters standing in the wind outside "Christus St. Elizabeth" (they misnamed it) can't offer. By the way, if (staff writer) Eric Cormier is around, tell him I said hi. He knows my parents, who own Triplett's. Please stay safe." -- Ellen Sung, Raleigh, N.C.

11:07 p.m. - "I heard Dennis (Spears, night editor) on the news a few minutes ago and it sounds like you guys are OK over there. ... Thanks for keeping everyone updated."

9:57 p.m. - "My parents fled to my sister's house in Mississippi -- which was flooded by Katrina."

9:48 p.m. - "I am a Lake Charles resident held up in Mississippi waiting for the end of this storm. Thank you for this blog ... I will be using this to help gauge when to come back and what I have to come back to south Lake Charles."

7 p.m. - From Kay Fox, Beauregard Electric Cooperative: "Beauregard Electric has begun to experience the outages due to Rita's encroachment into the seven parish service area. As we continue to experience this devastation, we ask for your patience. Crews will be dispatched into the service area as soon as it is deemed safe, which may be Saturday evening. At that time, crews will assess the damage to begin the restoration process. Again, we'd like to say thank you for your patience."

6:24 p.m. - "Keep up the great journalism and be safe."

4:06 p.m. - "Good work setting up the blog. I am in Central Texas, but parents and my brother and his family live in LC, as I used to, and have evacuated. I am glad to have someplace to catch up on my hometown."

We invite you to send your thoughts, news and photos as well.
Brett Downer
Editor