Local Catholic church announces several appointments
June 10, 2015
Lafourche prep continues
June 10, 2015
Terrebonne’s levees are as ready as they have ever been for a major hurricane and the parish’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness is primed to respond in advance to any encroaching storm.
“The Terrebonne Parish levee district provides much more protection than we’ve had in the past,” said Earl Eues, emergency preparedness director.
Upgrades to the parish’s 98-mile levee system have greatly improved Terrebonne’s defense against storm surge.
According to Angela Rains, Terrebonne Levee & Conservation District manager, Terrebonne’s levees have been raised to handle up to a 10-foot surge.
The levee previously stood at 8 feet, leaving it susceptible to flooding when Hurricane Rita pushed more than 9 feet of water into the parish, overtopping the system in September 2005. More than 10,000 homes and businesses flooded, according to Louisiana Long-Term Community Recovery planning team.
“So, if we would’ve had a 10-foot level of protection then, we could’ve avoided flooding in the past,” Rains said.
The stretch between Dulac and Chauvin remains at 8 feet, Rains said, but the levee district is working to raise that span. Work will likely be complete by summer’s end.
Should a storm hit in the meantime, Hesco baskets will be used. The 15-foot baskets, made by the British barrier company Hesco, are collapsible, dirt-filled barriers that can be deployed quickly.
Eues said locals should remember, however, that surge protection is intended to protect property, not people. The keystone to saving lives should Terrebonne be lashed by gale force winds, rain, and surge is getting them out of harm’s way before the storm makes landfall.
According to Eues, 97 percent of Terrebonne’s residents evacuated in 2008 when Hurricane Gustav hit. He expects near complete evacuation of the parish again should a mandatory evacuation be called this hurricane season.
“When we ask for people to evacuate, we really want people to heed that evacuation notice,” he said. “That is not something that is taken likely by us.”
Eues said that the decision to call for a mandatory evacuation is one made through discussion with government officials and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and are issued 50 hours before tropical storm winds are expected to reach the parish.
The Gustav evacuation proved a learning experience for the parish, Eues said. The parish offered no designated place for evacuees who needed assistance getting out of the storm’s path. The American Red Cross no longer sets up storm shelters south of Interstate 10.
During Gustav, locals who needed help evacuating were loaded onto busses at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center and shuttled to shelters in northern Louisiana.
An agreement between the City of Monroe and Terrebonne ensures locals can seek shelter at the Monroe Civic Center Arena. Residents that need assistance evacuating will still meet at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center to be registered and shuttled to Monroe.
The Terrebonne Parish Council on Aging and Good Earth Transit will provide rides to the civic center to those in need of help.
The TCOA actually plays a number of significant roles in Terrebonne’s disaster preparedness. The council has a large warehouse stocked, mostly, with disaster supplies like food and medicine. They also have deals with local ham radio operators to set up radio towers on the warehouse should communications fail.
Although it won’t be ready this hurricane season, parish government is building a new emergency operations center outside of the 100-year floodplain in the northern part of the parish.
Located on La. Highway 24 in Gray, the center will be situated just north of U.S. Highway 90. The new building will be a nearly 12,000-square-foot concrete building capable of withstanding Category 5 hurricane wind gusts.
Until construction is complete, Eues said if a Category 3 or stronger storm threatens Terrebonne, operations will move to the South Central Planning and Development building in Gray.
Eues’ message to locals for the 2015 Hurricane Season is to heed local warnings. During a storm, the parish cannot provide emergency services. He urges people to plan now for an evacuation.
“I call it a ‘hurrication,’” he said. “Go take a ‘hurrication.’”
Despite upgraded levees and the fact that over 500 homes have been raised in the parish, Terrebonne officials stress that levees protect property, not people.
