The full force of Hurricane Francine was bearing down on Ascension Parish when sheriff's deputies got the call: Someone was trapped under a tree.
Buffeted by strong winds — parts of the parish were seeing 80 mph gusts — Cpt. Jeff Griffin and Lt. Jason Kling went out with Donaldsonville firefighters around 7:43 p.m. to the 900 block of Elizabeth Street and found the woman pinned under a large tree that had fallen in the storm.
The deputies used chainsaws and jacks to extricate her. They freed her around 8:47 p.m., and Acadian Ambulance took her to Prevost Memorial Hospital for injuries to her arm and right knee.
“The good Lord was with her,” said Griffin. "Six inches one way or the other and it would have crushed her.”
Griffin said they didn’t know why the woman was out while there were fierce wind gusts and significant storm damage.
"You had houses, trees down, rain, you know, flying metal, that type thing," he said. “… it was intense.”
