Claudet ready for Gustav

Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet says he is ready if the latest tropical system, Gustav, targets his parish.

“We’ve been practicing for this one,” he said.

Claudet said Monday there will be no doubt who is in charge if Gustav threatens the area.

“There has never been a dispute about” who can order evacuations. “I am the person who can call a state of emergency,” he said. “I’m the only one who can do it, by state statute.”

Former Sheriff Jerry Larpenter had lobbied the state to change the law and allow sheriffs to control evacuations. But Claudet says he and current Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois are on the same page.

Unlike practices in the past, says Claudet, “we will have one command center. We will have a place at the table for the sheriff and for the parish president.”