Port emergency center opens early

The Port of Morgan City’s new Government Emergency Operations Center has seen lots of activity during the past week, a little sooner than officials expected.
The Louisiana National Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Mary Levee District and other govern-ment officials began using the Government Emergency Operations Center Wednesday to prepare for the anticipated high water in the Atchafalaya River.
Hundreds of people have been going to and from the center for almost a week, Port of Morgan City Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade said.
Port officials put on a “full court press” to be able to open the center early to accommodate emergency personnel responding to the flood fight, Wade said.
“It’s been a tremendous team effort from everybody,” Wade said.
About a month ago, Architect Carl Blum said construction of the center was 99 percent complete. However, port officials had not set an opening date for the center at the time.
The Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District Com-mission declared a state of emergency Monday at its regular meeting. Calling a state of emergency allows port officials to make purchases relating to the high water event.
Forecasters project the Atchafalaya River to crest near 8 feet in Morgan City Jan. 23. The Corps of Engineers announced Monday afternoon that it doesn’t plan to open the Morganza Spillway. Opening Morganza would have raised the projected river crest in Morgan City.
The two-story, 35,000-square-foot facility is located on La. 182 by the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium. The second floor serves as the emergency command center.
“This thing is a tribute to this port, to this community,” Wade said. “This gives us, in the event of something going on, we can function. This has been a good trial.”
Equipment at the center allows personnel to see what’s going on in the surrounding waterways without leaving the center. Monitoring devices in the river also give officials real-time weather conditions, Wade said.
Workers will start constructing the parking lot behind the center Jan. 18 and will add 100 parking spaces adjacent to the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium, Blum said.
The National Guard is the process of placing HESCO baskets on Avoca Island to protect Amelia and lower St. Martin and Terrebonne parishes. Officials hope to finish filling the baskets with sand by Friday, said Nicole Cutforth of CB&I, which does work for the St. Mary Levee District.
The HESCO baskets will form a levee on Avoca Island to protect the same areas as the barge and steel sheet pilings on Bayou Chene. As of Monday, the barge was in place and workers were driving sheet pilings around it, Cutforth said. Bayou Chene is closed to all vessel traffic.
Wade thanked businesses for their help to set up HESCO baskets on Avoca Island, particularly G&J Land & Marine Food Distributors for providing equipment and labor, he said. Officials hope to be done with flood prep work on Avoca by Friday, Cutforth said.
Also at the port meeting, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. David McClellan said the Coast Guard instituted vessel restrictions on the waterways since the Atchafalaya River rose to over 6.1 feet. Towing vessels traveling north and south through the Morgan City triple bridge span and westbound tows turning into the Intracoastal Waterway at Mile 98.5 at the Harvey Lock are limited to a 600-foot length, he said.
Any southbound tow of 400 feet or longer going through the bridge complex or making the turn at the Harvey Lock are required to have an additional assistance boat to “shadow” it, McClellan said.
The Coast Guard is also monitoring facilities located along the Atchafalaya to ensure their safety, McClel-lan said.