Gustav devastates smaller towns

0 Comments | USA TODAY, September, 2008 | by Donna Leinwand and Marisol Bello

CHAUVIN, La. -- Madonna Tillman, 39, hasn't stopped crying since Tuesday morning, the first time she saw her house after the storm.

"Are you the Red Cross?" she shouted from her sister's house. "We need the Red Cross right away. We're homeless."

Though Hurricane Gustav attacked southern Louisiana with far less power than Hurricane Katrina, many residents in the small fishing and shrimping towns still felt its sting. Houses in the state's Mississippi River Delta flooded and lost roofs. Much of the area is without power, and roads are blocked by fallen trees and power lines.

"It may not have hit a big city, but add it all up, and it was a devastating storm," said Veronica Mosgrove of Gov. Bobby Jindal's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency...