Vidrine stays at FIEB to make sure school was safe from flooding

Lonnie Vidrine, who works for the school district’s maintenance department, had a hunch that something bad would happen to the water pumps at Forked Island/E. Broussard School. Because of his suspicion, Lonnie and his son Blake decided to sleep in the school to protect it.
His hunch was correct.
Hours before Hurricane Laura was going to make landfall in Cameron Parish, the Vidrine men decided they would babysit the pumps and the dirt levy which surrounds the school. Lonnie’s wife headed to Dallas to avoid the storm, but Lonnie did not want to go.
Lonnie, who lives in Forked Island, decided the best place to be was FIEB, because it is surrounded by a levy wall, which protected it from the 10 to 15-foot storm surge that was predicted to hit Vermilion Parish.
Lonnie and his son brought something to sleep on and made the best of the situation until the storm rolled in that night.
“I stayed at the school to make sure the school did not flood,” said Lonnie on Monday morning. “I had a hunch something was going to go wrong, so I spent the night at the school. It was also a safe place to be and I did not want to leave home.”
Because there is a 10-foot high dirt levy around the school, Lonnie was not too worried about the storm surge affecting the school. He was more concerned about the rain from Laura staying inside of the levy and possibly flooding the school.
There are two regular generators and a backup generator at FIEB, that are used to pump water over the levy.
“I was worried about the rain,” he said. “They were predicting a lot of rain.”
With the winds blowing around 60 to 70 miles per hour at about 11 p.m. Wednesday, Lonnie heard the pumps were working. But then, hours later, the electricity blinked, and it kicked off the pumps. Later on in the night, Lonnie checked on the pumps but did not hear them running. The rain was starting to build up around the school.
He reset the breaker, and the pumps began working.
“I am not 100 percent sure it would have flooded the school had the pumps not came back on, but it would have been close,” said Lonnie. “We got five inches of rain that night.”
Lonnie and his son patiently waited for the hurricane to move north and by 5 a.m. Thursday, winds began to decrease. Next, they waited for the storm surge to arrive. It never did. When he left later that morning, the land around the school was dry. The pumps were turned off, and FIEB survived another hurricane.
Lonnie, who has been working for the school district for 13 years, had never babysat FIEB. The meteorologists said Laura was an intense hurricane, so he felt he should be at the school.
Kerry Richard, who is in charge of the school district’s entire maintenance department, received a phone call from Lonnie, who explained to him that he slept at the school.
“He had that feeling,” said Richard. “He had a feeling something was going to go wrong. These guys not only work here, but they take pride in what they do.”