Joylynn Cormier Carrell
September 15, 2008Gustav, Ike take a toll on seven Terrebonne Parish public schools
September 17, 2008
Terrebonne Parish endured Hurricane Gustav suffering no floodwater damage as was feared, at least in the central and northern parts of the parish, but high winds knocked down trees, billboards and utility poles and tore shingles off roofs. Parish President Michel Claudet said assessments on the damage are being conducted.
“I want to thank the people of Terrebonne for their endurance and patience,” Claudet said. “Things are getting better every day. Our recovery will be stronger than before.”
The largest problem facing parish residents is electrical power outages. As of Monday, Entergy had reconnected only 30 percent of all homes and businesses. Entergy
hopes to have half its Terrebonne customers reconnected by Friday. The City of Houma’s Electrical Utility System had hooked up
80 percent and SLECA 71 percent.
Terrebonne is still under an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew because of the outages, though official bans on residents coming back into the parish and on the sale of alcohol were lifted by Monday. The parish is still under a boil water order.
Officials praised the unified command structure placing Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois in charge of emergency operations. “Claudet had his plate full,” said Major Bill Dodd with the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office. “We thought we may be better suited.”
Officials were also thankful for the assistance of the Louisiana National Guard with providing security.
“We would be in a bad situation without the National Guard,” Dodd said.
Gustav was expected to come ashore possibly as a Category 4 hurricane, though an ill-formed eye caused the storm to weaken to a Category 2.
On the Saturday before Gustav’s landfall, Al Levron, working temporarily as the parish’s public information officer, said Chauvin, Montegut and Dularge could receive floodwaters as high as 12 feet.
Claudet urged residents to evacuate because the parish has no hurricane protection levees to keep rising water at bay.
“I cannot emphasize the need to evacuate enough,” he said.
Most parish residents heeded the warning, leaving Houma nearly a ghost town by Saturday night.
Evacuees watching their televisions for news about Gustav saw with relief that Houma was not flooded. But repeated showings on The Weather Channel of parts of the roof of the St. Francis de Sales Youth Center falling to the parking lot notified residents that wind damage from Gustav was severe in some places.
More residents returned than expected in the immediate days following the storm – even though the parish was under a “look and leave” order – causing concern among parish officials.
“We cannot sustain a full population at this time,” Dodd said Saturday
Forty-five traffic lights in Terrebonne were damaged by Gustav. For days, drivers have had to use their own discretion at major intersections in the parish.
Two buses packed with evacuees arrived entirely unexpectedly midnight on Saturday at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center. Officials had to scramble to find temporary shelter for the evacuees before they could be transferred to other shelters. Evergreen Junior High and Houma Junior High were the primary shelters, with Dumas Auditorium serving special-needs residents.
Pets could be taken to a shelter on Williams Avenue in downtown Houma, but that site suffered roof damage from Gustav.
Distribution sites offering Meals Ready to Eat, water, ice and a limited supply of blue roofing tarps were set up in eight areas of the parish. The bright blue tarps immediately became ubiquitous on roofs throughout the parish.
Three hot food centers were also established, two by Baptist missions and the other by the Terrebonne Restaurant Associa-tion.
A medical clinic was also set up in the former Winn-Dixie parking lot on Prospect Street in Houma.
The Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center has been a focus of relief efforts, holding one of the distribution sites, a mobile FEMA office and an emergency food stamp center. Parish Councilman Johnny Pizzolatto complained about the long lines at the civic center and asked why the services offered there could not be transferred elsewhere.
One murder was committed in Terrebonne – in Chauvin – in the aftermath of Gustav. The suspect was quickly apprehended by the sheriff’s office. The main crime-related problem was with curfew violations, said Houma Police Chief Todd Duplantis. By Sunday, 11 people had been arrested in Houma for curfew violations.
There were two incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning requiring emergency assistance, one involving a five-year-old.
Signs of normalcy were popping up by Monday night.
The school board announced a target date of this Monday to reopen schools.
The Terrebonne Parish Council, which was scheduled to meet this week, moved its meeting dates to next week.
Claudet also ordered all Terrebonne Parish employees back to work on Monday.
