Remembering Hurricane Lili’s Landfall 16 Years Ago [Video]
If you were living in Acadiana 16 years ago there was one name that was on your mind on this date 2002. That name was Lili. Lili was no lady, she was a massive hurricane that really got South Louisiana's attention sitting just offshore as a Category 4 Storm.
For those of us that lived through it, we'll remember it was either the power of prayer or the sudden influence of dry air that took the storm down from a catastrophic Category 4 storm to a still dangerous Category 1 storm right before landfall.
I know at our house the power was out for several days following the storm's passage. We also lost a fence and our neighbor's chimney was blown off of their roof. I am sure many of you suffered far worse damage and hardship than we did.
The system was blamed for 13 deaths in the Caribbean and the United States. Two deaths in Acadiana were indirectly attributed to the storm as well. Damage from Hurricane Lili was calculated to be $1.16 billion dollars. Lili was the second costliest storm of the 2002 Hurricane Season, surpassed only by Hurricane Isidore in those categories.