Parish leaders: Past hurricanes help future plans

Past experiences with hurricanes that have affected St. Mary Parish can help residents prepare for the 2016 season, which forecasters expect to be more active than the last few seasons, parish leaders said Wednesday.
St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff and Parish Homeland Security Director Duval Arthur spoke about the upcoming hurricane season at Wednesday’s Chamber of Commerce Business Luncheon.
Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
Forecasters are predicting an average activity hurricane season with 12 named storms, five hurricanes and two major hurricanes, and 50 percent chance a storm will hit the U.S. coast, Hanagriff said.
Louisiana has been fortunate not to have many hurricanes headed its way the past few years, Hanagriff said.
The 2016 season is predicted to be more active than the 2015 season. Hurricane predictions are “pretty much guesswork” based on the information forecasters have available, Arthur said.
“But it only takes one,” Arthur said.
Learning from past hurricanes is important to adequately prepare for the future, Hanagriff said. For Hanagriff, Hurricane Andrew in August 1992 is the one that stands out. Hanagriff was attending school at USL, now ULL, in Lafayette, and drove back to his home in Centerville.
Hurricane Andrew was a devastating storm for the parish, bringing a tremendous amount of wind destruction throughout St. Mary Parish, Hanagriff said. Centerville was without power for almost three weeks, he said.
Arthur recalls responders rescuing several people from rooftops during Hurricane Andrew.
The 2008 hurricane season is another season that Hanagriff remembers well during his first year on the parish council. That year, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike hit just one month apart.
Hanagriff remembers the responsibilities that area officials faced at the time being overwhelming, but everyone learned a lot in the process, he said.
Planning ahead of time for a hurricane is extremely important, and Hanagriff has “the highest confidence” in parish officials to be ready, he said.
“It’s always ‘hope for the best, but plan for the worst,’” Hanagriff said.
Weather hazards associated with hurricanes include storm surge, the large wall of water produced by winds; heavy rain and inland flooding; and damaging winds and tornadoes. Tornadoes and storm surge are the most deadly factors, he said.
Hanagriff makes the ultimate decision of whether to evacuate the parish before a hurricane based on information officials provide him, Arthur said.
Parish leaders stagger evacuation of different groups of people to keep traffic from stacking up too much, Arthur said.
The following list shows the amount of time before a storm is forecast to make landfall and when certain people are evacuated:
—48 hours: nursing homes and jails are evacuated by ambulances and buses.
—36 hours: people with special medical needs are evacuated. They will be housed at the Assumption Community Center in Napoleonville.
—36 hours: residents living south of the Intracoastal Waterway are advised to evacuate.
—36 hours: parish officials will provide transportation by school bus for residents to meet at Morgan City Junior High and Franklin High and travel to a safe shelter. Parish officials will also have other buses picking people up from their homes for those who need it, Arthur said.
—24 hours: the general population will be asked to evacuate, the locks will shut down, and the train bridge will shut down. St. Mary Parish uses Rapides Coliseum in Alexandria as an evacuation shelter, though construction may prevent that site from being used this season, Arthur said. The Grambling State University men’s gym and lab school are backup shelters. Centurytel Center in Bossier City is another shelter possibility, he said.