March 25
March 25, 2009
Vernal Oliver Sr.
March 27, 2009
Terrebonne Parish business owners vital to the recovery of the parish after a disaster were urged at South Central Industrial Association’s meeting last week to obtain reentry badges allowing access back into the parish following hurricane evacuations.
Earl Eues, Terrebonne Parish’s homeland security and emergency preparedness director, told business owners to submit forms to the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority to receive the badges, which cost $5 apiece.
The program permits owners of businesses and top management critical to recovery to come back into the parish to assess damage and determine what needs to be done to restart operations, said Katherine Gilbert, TEDA business retention and expansion director.
Following hurricanes Gustav and Ike last year, officials in Terrebonne asked TEDA to develop the reentry program, Gilbert said.
Eues served as the parish’s emergency operations manager during the hurricanes.
“The pass gets you back in town to look at your operations, to preserve your business until they let (the general public) back in the parish,” he said. “It allows you to grab records and do what you have to do.”
Eues said parish officials cannot provide shelter and sustenance to business owners.
“You’re responsible for sustaining yourself,” he said.
A priority will be placed on letting utilities contractors back into the parish, Eues said. Examples of other personnel having a priority are owners and managers of gasoline stations, pharmacies, groceries, oilfield service companies and fabrication shops.
He said the parish’s decision to bar residents from coming back into the parish for a week following Hurricane Gustav allowed electricity crews to work unhindered by traffic.
Gilbert said the reentry program is targeted at a handful of business owners and management needed to restart the parish economy.
The program’s application form can be downloaded from the TEDA Web site and, after being completed, can be dropped off at the TEDA office or mailed in. An appointment will be scheduled. TEDA will determine the business personnel receiving the credentials, called Tier 1 access.
Eues said officials in Terrebonne received agreements from eight parishes in the region to honor the Tier 1 badges. Each parish decides whom to allow back in.
“We asked them to please let them through,” he said. “It will work well in our eight parishes. It’s good for us. We have to go through (other parishes) to get in.”
Eues said he wants a Terrebonne Parish sheriff’s deputy placed at all National Guard roadblocks in the parish following evacuations because deputies are familiar with the area.
He gave as an example personnel from major Houma oil-drilling platform maker Gulf Island Fabrication trying to come back into the parish.
“A local deputy knows what Gulf Island is,” he said.
The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office also operates a badge reentry program following hurricane evacuations, but the badges are only issued to residents, mainly in the southern part of Terrebonne vulnerable to flooding from hurricanes.
Eues offered several suggestions to business owners to help continue operating after hurricanes.
Owners should get alternate phone numbers for their shippers and ask them how they plan to maintain supplies following hurricanes.
Alternate locations for operations need to be identified and owners should develop relationships with other companies to use their facilities.
Besides having phone numbers of employees, secure message boards can be easily set up to allow employees to contact the companies.
Owners should designate three people to succeed each manager. Checklists and standard operating procedures must be made available.
“Please be prepared,” Eues said. “It’s going to happen. You’ll be in a situation where you can’t get back into your office.”
Owners and managers of businesses vital to Terrebonne Parish’s recovery will be allowed to re-enter the area after a hurricane through a badge re-entry program. The Terrebonne Economic Development Authority is overseeing distributing the badges. * File photo / Tri-Parish Times
