LAKE CHARLES, La. – A 22-story skyscraper that stood over southwest Louisiana for four years after being damaged during Hurricane Laura finally came down Saturday with the help of controlled explosives.

The Capital One Tower in downtown Lake Charles had been largely vacant since sustaining severe damage from Hurricane Laura, a Category 4 storm.

For years, there was ongoing debate about the building’s future, but ultimately, the property owner chose to have it taken down versus embark on a costly repair project. 

Less than 20 seconds after detonation, the once-towering structure was reduced to a tangled wreckage along the banks of Lake Charles.

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“We cannot allow these buildings to sit untouched indefinitely,” Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter previously stated in a post-recovery address. “The problem will fester. Unaddressed, this issue will lower property values, increase blight, and affect our neighborhoods negatively all around. We must have a heart and open ear to those still facing challenges, but we must also have a heart and open ear to those neighbors who are living next door to these derelict structures.”

The skyscraper had been a landmark for drivers traveling along Interstate 10 since its opening in 1983. 

Following the demolition and cleanup, there remains considerable uncertainty about what will be developed on the site. 

Lake Charles and the surrounding parishes were among the hardest hit areas by Hurricane Laura, which caused damage estimated to exceed $23 billion.

NOAA reports more than 40 people were killed in the U.S. following the cyclone’s trek through the Gulf Coast and into the Mississippi Valley,

About six weeks after Laura, parts of the same region were impacted by Hurricane Delta, a Category 2 cyclone.

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The Gulf Coast was particularly hard hit during the record-breaking 2020 season.

Between April and December, 30 named storms formed, which included 14 hurricanes, and 7 major cyclones with winds of at least 115 mph.

At the time, damage for the 2020 hurricane season was estimated to be around $50 billion, ranking it among the top five costliest seasons in the U.S.

Since then, seasons in 2021 and 2022 have surpassed 2020 in terms of their financial impact, pushing the historic year down in the rankings.

Despite this, the 2020 season remains within the top 10 costliest hurricane seasons of all time.

An abandoned, 22-story building in Lake Charles, Louisiana — once an icon in the city that became a symbol of destruction from hurricanes Laura and Delta — is scheduled to be demolished Saturday after sitting vacant for nearly four years.

Weather permitting, the implosion of The Hertz Tower will take place around 8 a.m. (CT). The tower is expected to collapse down to four or six stories, according to the city’s website.

The building, formerly known as the Capital One Tower, has been a dominant feature of the city’s skyline for more than four decades. However, after a series of hurricanes ripped through southwest Louisiana in 2020, the building became an eyesore, its windows shattered and covered in shredded tarps.

For years the owners of the building, the Los Angeles-based real estate firm Hertz Investment Group, promised to repair the structure once they settled with their insurance provider Zurich in court, The Advocate reported. The estimated cost of bringing the building back up to code was $167 million. Eventually, the two parties settled for an undisclosed amount.

The demolition is being funded by $7 million in private money secured by the city. Hertz still owns the property and the future of the site is undetermined, according to the city.

Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter described the planned implosion of the building as “bittersweet.”

“I know how hard the city tried to work with several development groups to see it saved, but ultimately … it proved to be too tall a task,” said Hunter, who was in office during the hurricanes. “At this juncture, I am ready for a resolution. It’s been four years. It’s been long enough.”

Lake Charles, which sits on the banks of the Calcasieu River and is a two hours’ drive from Houston, is home to around 80,000 residents. While the city is known for its copious amounts of festivals, bayous, casinos and its Cajun flair, it also has been labeled by the Weather Channel as America’s “most-weather battered city.”

Hurricane Delta crashed ashore in southern Louisiana in October 2020 just six weeks after Laura took a similar, destructive path onto the U.S. Gulf Coast. At the time, Lake Charles was already reeling from damage caused by Laura, which battered roofs, claimed more than 25 lives in the region and left mud and debris filling streets.

The Hertz tower offers an example of the city’s long road to recovery following back-to-back hurricanes that inflicted an estimated $22 billion in damage, according to the National Hurricane Center.

While there are signs of rebuilding and growth in much of Lake Charles, there are still buildings that remain in disarray and residents living in the same conditions as four years ago — waiting for financial relief to rebuild their homes, looking for affordable housing after the hurricanes’ destruction exacerbated the housing crisis or stuck in court with their insurance provider to get a fair payout.