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Earl Eues, Jr. and his colleagues will finally have real beds to lay their heads on in less than a year.
Eues, director of the Terrebonne Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, celebrated the groundbreaking of the new Terrebonne Emergency Operations Center last Wednesday. The construction, which will be done by Luling-based Lamar Contractors, is set to start later this month, according to Eues, and without any weather-related setbacks could be done by November.
The brand-new, $6.2 million building on Government Street in Gray marks another step up for Eues and his staff. TOHSEP currently operates out of a building on Capitol Boulevard, after previously holing up in the Houma Police Department. Eues noted his department’s progress in terms of office space.
“We went from 600 square feet to 3,000 square feet and now 12,000 square feet,” he said.
According to Eues, the increase in size will matter most during storms and other states of emergency, when parish emergency support function managers from different public safety departments must be together in the EOC to make decisions and prioritize objectives as a team.
“At the current building we have a small room that we put all the ESF managers in. I can only sit about 21 people in there at a time,” Eues said. “We do our press conferences in there, so when we get everybody in there, it’s pretty crowded. We have office space there, and that’s pretty much about it.”
The center will also feature sleeping quarters for those that have to hunker down during emergencies. The new EOC will have room for 12 men and 12 women. TOHSEP’s current office does not have such amenities.
“Basically, we just asked people to find a place to put their head down when we were in operations during an emergency, so any little corner you could find, you go find a place to sleep,” Eueus said.
While having an actual bed to sleep in is a great bonus, it also helps to know that the roof above will not fly off. Michel Claudet, who was participating in his final groundbreaking as Terrebonne Parish President, noted the new center’s much improved fortitude as well as its locational advantage.
“We got out of that closet at HPD, and we ended up where they’ve got a building on Capitol, but that building can barely withstand a Category 1. This building will sustain a Category 5 and there’s a reason it’s located where it is,” he said. “It’s right on the Highway 24, it’s right by Highway 90. If the National Guard or anybody else needs to come and assist, they can come right off of Highway 90 and be here in no time.”
Eues also noted that the plans for the new EOC include updated audio/visual technology, which will make the ESF leadership’s jobs easier during those stressful emergencies.
“It’ll be state-of-the-art, with all A/V communications, stuff that we need to get information and communicate. That’s the biggest thing, is being able to communicate with everybody, within that building and outside that building, what’s going on during an emergency,” he said.
According to Eues, his new office will not change his department’s day-to-day operations, as the Capitol Boulevard location has enough room for his staff. However, he said he plans to invite other governmental agencies to come in and use the larger rooms for meetings and training each day, which will give the new building more use and also get possible emergency responders familiar with the facility.
Claudet mentioned Gordon Dove, his successor as parish president, and his delegation of state representatives and senators as integral in getting $1.6 million from the state to pay for the new building. Dove also attended the groundbreaking, and spoke of the EOC as a symbol of the cooperation among Terrebonne legislators at every level.
“We were fortunate; we were able to go to Baton Rouge and bring back a lot of money, along with the requests made by the council and the parish president. There’s been more construction going on in this parish from Morganza to the Gulf, all these buildings. It’s just a testament of what can happen if we work together,” Dove said. •
Terrebonne officials at the groundbreaking for the Terrebonne Emergency Operations Center. The $6.2 million structure will have 24 beds available for emergency managers to hunker down during emergencies.
Architect Houston Lirette’s rendering of the new Terrebonne Emergency Operations Center on Government Street. The building will be finished this year.
