Morgan City awakens after storm with more rain falling

After an overnight storm that blacked out many electric customers and damaged some homes, Morgan City people awoke Saturday to more rain and more lightning.
The National Weather Service in Lake Charles issued a flash flood warning and a flood watch until 12:45 p.m. Saturday as intermittently heavy rain continued to fall. A flood watch was in effect until 7 p.m. Saturday.
The late Friday-early Saturday severe weather hit Morgan City hardest.
Morgan City Housing Authority Director Clarence Robinson said a Mallard Street resident called at 10:25 p.m. Friday to report that a tree had fallen on the roof of her Brownell Homes residence. The large tree was split by a lightning strike.
“It was torrential, with high winds,” Robinson said.
“Lots of lightning, thunder and rain – a lot,” said Mike Francois, a Housing Authority maintenance and repair man.
The tree fell over the bathroom portion of the home. No one was injured, Robinson said.
Not all the Mallard Street resident’s luck was bad. Although the Housing Authority’s vacancy rate is low, a unit across Mallard from the damaged home was available. Robinson and co-workers were preparing the vacant unit Saturday morning for the woman to move in.
In a Facebook post, Mayor Lee Dragna said a couple of residents had to be taken out of homes damaged by the storm.
Portions of the city were without power during the storm. At one point overnight, Cleco reported 1,083 customers were blacked out.
Dragna reported about 2 a.m. that power had been restored to 90-95% of the city.
As clean-up and repair continued Saturday, Dragna and the Morgan City Police Department urged people to obey street barricades and to stay away from crews responding to transformer malfunctions and downed lines.
“If you slow us down,” Dragna said in a Facebook video, “those people are not getting power until everybody’s out of the way.”
“The Morgan City Police Department would like to remind all citizens to obey all barricades and road closures placed throughout the city," the department said in a Facebook post. "These barricades are in place for the safety of the public as electrical crews work to repair damaged utility poles and restore power to residents still affected by outages.
"Driving around or moving barricades creates a dangerous situation for utility workers, first responders, and the public. These crews are working long hours under hazardous conditions to safely restore services to our community.
"Any person found going around barricades or disregarding posted road closures will be subject to citations and possible further enforcement action.
Dragna also asked residents to help by picking up trash, limbs and leaves from streets to keep the drainage system clear in anticipation of more rain.
The U.S. 90 bridge was closed for more than 2-1/2 hours early Saturday after a barge strike during the storm. Combined with the continuing closure of the La. 182 bridge for repairs and maintenance, the new bridge’s closure cut off access by emergency vehicles from one side of the Atchafalaya to the other.
State inspectors were called in and said the U.S. 90 bridge could be safely reopened by 3 a.m. Saturday.
St. Mary Gravity Drainage District No. 2A is undergoing a $12 million-$14 million upgrade to the pump stations that move floodwater from Morgan City outside the levee system. That system failed to protect hundreds of city homes from flooding during Hurricane Francine in September 2024.
“Everything seems to be OK,” said Michael Brocato, director of the St. Mary Levee District, which is administering the upgrade. “There are always little issues here and there, but they’re taking care of them.”
There were early reports of tornadoes during the overnight storm, but the National Weather Service has not confirmed those reports.
The storm turned Memorial Day Friday into a long night for Morgan City employees. Dragna praised electric and public works employees, who worked until 4 a.m. Saturday and were back on the job by 7:30 a.m. Robinson said the Morgan City Fire Department responded quickly to the lightning strike on Mallard.
Rain is expected to continue until at least Tuesday, with daytime precipitation chances of 80% each day, according to the National Weather Service in Lake Charles.