What Lafourche Parish residents need to know as hurricane season begins

When it comes to hurricane season, North Lafourche Levee Director Dwayne Bourgeois has good news and bad news.

“The good news is that we’ve all been through this before,” he said. “The bad news is that we’ve all been through this before. We always try to do everything we can to prepare, but Mother Nature has the last say.”

The 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, June 1 through Nov. 30, will bring challenges like no other, as residents continue to recover from Hurricane Ida, parish officials said.

About 15,300 residents in Lafourche are temporarily sheltered in the state-run housing program. There have been 5,308 campers leased and 5,731 deployed. Another 694 FEMA campers occupied in the parish.  

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Those displaced residents being housed in temporary trailers are particularly vulnerable to hurricanes, Parish President Archie Chaisson said.

“It changes the game a lot,” Chaisson said. “We still have areas like the Raceland Rec Center that are housing some FEMA personnel, so we’re looking at transitioning those folks to the high schools in the event of an evacuation. Evacuations are the biggest change. Instead of about 1,700 people our planning number is now over 3,000 because we have to account for all these people in the FEMA units and travel trailers that will have to evacuate at a much lesser storm because those units aren’t rated for anything above a tropical storm.”

Officials are also working to enhance generator capacity at Thibodaux and Central Lafourche high schools in the event those buildings are used as shelters again, Chaisson said. 

Levees and pumps are up and running and emergency officials are meeting to update their hurricane plans, Chaisson said. Officials urge residents to follow suit.

“We continue to make improvements year after year and go into every season better than the one before it,” Bourgeois said. “But Mother Nature is the one who decides.”

The Lafourche Emergency Preparedness Office, Sheriff’s Office, Thibodaux and Lockport police departments, Greater Lafourche Port Commission, Harbor Police, ambulance services, local hospitals and area fire departments are tasked with providing the public with information during a storm.

Residents can download the Alert FM app on their smartphones for weather alerts and other emergency notifications. The Sheriff’s Office recently created a free mobile app that can also be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play. You can also register for emergency notifications at bit.ly/EmergencyLafourche.

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The parish social media pages like facebook.com/Lafourchegov and twitter.com/lafourchegov are also updated during storms.

In the event of an evacuation, residents who need help getting to shelters can call emergency preparedness clerk Ann Bruno at 532-8147 or brunoaf@lafourchegov.org.

For hurricanes stronger than Category 3, Lafourche may open shelters at any of these locations:

• Central Lafourche High, 4820 La. 1, Raceland.

• Thibodaux High, 1355 Tiger Drive, Thibodaux.

• Raceland Recreation Center, 241 Recreation Drive.

Major storms may call for an evacuation. Those without transportation will be bused to three recreation buildings in Monroe. Residents with pets must have a carrier with them to travel on the buses. Pet carriers need to be able to fit on a lap or bus seat.

After the storm passes, the parish will decide when it’s safe for residents to return based on the severity of the damage.

Businesses can register with the parish’s re-entry system at www.parishreentry.com/lafourche. The site allows business owners and others to undergo pre-screening when a limited number of people are allowed to return to the parish to assess damages.

The parish e-notifications, Everbridge and the Alert FM app are the most effective ways to learn when it’s safe to return to Lafourche, officials said. Residents with special needs or their caregivers are asked to call the Emergency Preparedness Office at 532-8174 to set up available resources in the event of an evacuation.

To find out about road closures, call Louisiana State Police at 1-800-469-4828.

For information about other ways to prepare for hurricane season, visit lafourchegov.org/emergency-information.

Bourgeois urged residents to evacuate in the event of a major hurricane.

“When we told people last year to leave because Ida was going to be bad, not enough people left,” he said. “The whole point of the levee is to try and protect your property, not your life. We have some people who regretted staying last year and may be more inclined to leave next time. Trust me, as someone who can’t leave during a storm, it’s no place you want to be.”

— Staff Writer Dan Copp can be reached at 448-7639 or at dan.copp@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanVCopp. 

This article originally appeared on The Courier: What Lafourche residents need to know as hurricane season begins