# Baton Rouge Bunnies May Be In Big Trouble!



## Pipp (Sep 5, 2008)

If anybody is in the Baton Rouge area and can make contact with the Magic Happens Rabbit Rescue as well as the shelters in the area, it's a good bet they're going to need help. 

We're still trying to reach our Infirmary Mod, Ivory, and the people at the rescue, but no luck so far. We need to know how they are and what kind of help they're going to need. 

For now, we're encouraging everybody to donate to the Magic Happens Paypal account, I'm sure they'll be able to access it somehow eventually. They can at least borrow against the balance to buy ice, food and other supplies. 

Please everybody, do what you can. And if anybody is close by, please post! You may be needed! 

Here's the link to the Magic Happens Paypal account: 

Magic Happens Paypal

And here's the link to the rescue itself: 

Magic Happens

Please do what you can! 

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*Baton Rouge Seen Going Three Weeks Without Full Power*

By DOUG SIMPSON and MARK WILLIAMS 09.04.08, 9:49 PM ET

BATON ROUGE, LA. - Louisiana's capital city region could go three weeks before electricity is completely restored because Hurricane Gustav mowed down so many transmission towers, a state utility regulator said Thursday.

After a helicopter trip over the Baton Rouge area, Public Service Commissioner Jimmy Field said the storm knocked down 20 of the area's transmission towers that follow the Mississippi River along the 80 miles between New Orleans and the capital.

"This was a perfect storm, if you wanted to destroy as much of the generation and the transmission alley that we have," Field said.

Entergy Corp. (nyse: ETR - news - people ), the region's top power company, agreed with Field's prediction about the Baton Rouge. By contrast, the company predicted that power would be fully restored in New Orleans on Monday.

About 76 percent of power customers were without electricity in East Baton Rouge Parish, which includes the capital city, down from 90 percent the previous day, according to figures provided by the state late Thursday. The parish has a population of about 430,000.

Entergy said the region has never suffered damage as severe as Gustav's. The last storm that came close was Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Earlier this week, Co-op Dixie Electric Membership Corp. of Baton Rouge reported all 95,000 of its members were without power. The last time that happened: 1992.

The post-Gustav power situation is far worse in Baton Rouge than in New Orleans, said Renae Conley, president and chief executive of Entergy Louisiana (otcbb: EGYLO.OB - news - people ) and Entergy Gulf States (otcbb: EYGFI.OB - news - people ) Louisiana.

"It is pretty devastating to see the amount of transmission damage for the state," she said.

Along with transmission problems, trees are down and power poles have been snapped in two. Utilities, hindered by torrential rains and the threats of tornadoes until the weather began to improve Thursday, must negotiate hills, woods and swamps to get power restored.

Gov. Bobby Jindal has said the projected timeline for restoring power is unacceptable.

"One of the things that absolutely has to be worked out is what more could be done to harden the lines and make the distribution system more safe for future storms or intentional acts, whether it's additional redundancies or a hardening of the assets," he said Thursday.

He said getting the power restored is key to getting the state's hard-hit communities back on their feet.

"If we do have full power, it lessens the need to evacuate patients out of hospitals and nursing homes," he said. "If we do have full power, it lessens the need to have to go and buy generators and try to stand up fuel stations, grocery stores and pharmacies. "

The Department of Energy said Thursday morning that 1 million customers are without power, including 925,963 in Louisiana. That is down nearly 200,000 customers from Wednesday afternoon.

Statewide, Entergy reported 561,082 customers without power Thursday afternoon, down from a peak of 850,000 Tuesday morning and the second most in the utility's 95-year history - trailing only Katrina in 2005, when the utility had 1.1 million outages. Entergy said most customers in Arkansas should have power back by the end of Friday.

Cleco (nyse: CNL - news - people ) Co. was reporting 128,798 outages Thursday morning, below 50 percent of its total customer base, and said it expects to have power to all of its customers who can take it by Tuesday.

Associated Press writer Melinda Deslatte contributed to this report.

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*Storm surprised Baton Rouge*

By Marisol Bello and Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY

BATON ROUGE â During Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana's capital city was a haven for Gulf Coast evacuees â the staging area that shipped food, fuel and manpower to flood-ravaged communities.
Three years later, Baton Rouge itself needs help after Hurricane Gustav became the worst storm to hit there since Hurricane Betsy in 1965.

Gustav ravaged the city's oldest neighborhoods, home to mature oak trees that were uprooted by wind gusts reaching 91 mph. A fallen tree split a house in two, killing an elderly couple who had sought refuge farther inland from Abbeville.

"Betsy was our storm until Gustav, but she's been displaced," Baton Rouge Police Chief Jeff LeDuff said. The trees that fell across the city "were babies during Betsy. Now they're grown."

On Wednesday, 85% of the 300,000 electric customers in the combined city and parish remained without power, said Walter Monsour, the chief administrative officer for Baton Rouge.

A trickle of gas stations and grocery stores began to reopen, causing long lines and short tempers as residents bought up limited supplies. At least three businesses that opened had to close again after they were overwhelmed by customers.

"This is a new experience for us," police Sgt. Don Kelly said. "We're not a coastal city, so we are usually there to help other communities. We're the place people come to for refuge, but no one expected Baton Rouge to take such a hard hit."

The city set up a hotline Wednesday for businesses to call when they reopen so local officials can assess whether police are needed to control crowds.

At the B-Quik gas station, a line of cars stretched more than a block on a main thoroughfare off Interstate 12. "I was there for an hour and a half," said Clarence Leake, 38. He filled his gas can with 2 gallons of gas, just enough to get his family home from the grocery store across the street, where his fiancÃ©e and mother waited three hours to enter so they could get food and water. "The gas light was on. I wouldn't have made it home," he said.

Leake, a laborer, wasn't expecting the aftermath of the storm to be so tough. The heat got so bad, he ended up trying to make a fan start by cutting one of its wires and hooking it to his car battery. "It didn't work," he said.

In a neighborhood near Louisiana State University, an enormous oak tree took out the main transformer line, cutting power to the entire subdivision.

"We heard the cracking of the tree and then whoosh," said Suzy Duplantier, 63. She watched the storm with her husband, Bubbie, 64, who has lived in the neighborhood his entire life. Their yard, spotless the day before, was covered in tree limbs.

The electricity went out at 1 p.m. the day the storm hit. "When you walk outside and see pitch-black everywhere, it was so weird," she said.

Her husband added, "This is the worst one by far that I've seen."

Contributing: Bob Swanson


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## GoinBackToCali (Sep 5, 2008)

Ya'll want me to just drive down there this weekend? See how far they will let me go in that direction?

Baton Rouge is a 2 hour drive normally.. if that.. Maybe an hour and a half...


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## seniorcats (Sep 5, 2008)

Thanks for alerting us. I just messaged some friends in Baton Rouge to see if they find out anything. Will let you know.


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## Pipp (Sep 5, 2008)

Yay! There's a post on their website. They came through okay, no losses, but they did get some damage. Luckily, it appears that the house where most of the bunnies are was one of the first to get their power restored. :yahoo:

They still have a few things to check, though. 

And it's a pretty good bet that with so many other places for people to direct funds -- like fixing their own homes! -- their shelter fundraiser will be needed more help than ever. :help:

www.magichappensrescue.com


sas arty0002:


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## seniorcats (Sep 5, 2008)

This is the meassage I got from Vickie in Baton Rouge:

I went to the website and called the number. An answering machine picked up and said something like, "This is Linda" or maybe she said Lindsey. I wasn't sure. Anyway, it gave me the option of leaving a message. I just hung up. 
They are giving projected Entergy schedules on the radio and tv about when areas can expect power. Some estimates do say three weeks. Some say seven to ten days. They are working repair crews round the clock. 

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Let's hope they get the power on in those 7 to 10 days. Do you want me to call the Rescue and check on folks and let tham know we are trying to help?

A.


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## Ivory (Sep 8, 2008)

Hey guys-

We're working our butts off to help the buns right now, and to be honest any kind of donation would be wonderful, even a small one. The current "bunny bungalow" has been completely ripped out, and we're trying to fix it now. But we need a lot of lumber, and while we have most of it, we're still strapped for cash.

We're also having difficulties because the feed store we got hay from has closed down...and hay prices have gone from reasonable to non-reasonable. Frankly, we're running very low on timothy hay, and no where around here sells big bales right now. We're ordering straight from Oxbow, but it's 70$ just to get the bale shipped, not to mention the actual bale (which isn't that bad.) PetsMart is carrying Oxbow, but not the big bales.

We've got 37 rabbits right now in the garage- they're taken care of, but to be frank we can't let them out for exercise everyday. 

We need help purchasing the lumber- because right now, we're having to take it out of the building fund, which we don't want to do.

Let me explain a little bit about the bunny bungalow- it was built about four years ago and has survived three hurricanes. It wasn't built ideally at first, so we had to make many adjustments to it since. The current plan is to make it easily to disassemble, so it can be moved from one yard to another, and so it can be taken down during hurricanes. 

The website also has more information:

www.magichappensrescue.com

We're building the new bungalow at the new house, and it will be next to our building. It will provide good temporary boarding, and maybe even serve as an exercise area for the future.

I will have pictures of the situation soon, but as of right now I don't. Internet access is scant, so I can't be online often, but I'll do everything I can to keep people informed.

Wendy has 3G on her Blackberry and therefore can access the internet to check funding and Paypal. Really, every little bit will help us right now, even if it's just a dollar. 

Thank you so much for helping!


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