St. Mary probably is in Cristobal's path

St. Mary Parish leaders have begun preparations for Tropical Storm Cristobal, which appears headed for the south Louisiana coast and potentially, St. Mary Parish.
Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness Director David Naquin said officials need to be proactive in their approach.
“A lot could still go on,” he said Wednesday. “It could intensify more. It could go the other way as well.”
However, Naquin said he doesn’t think there’s a doubt among many forecasters where it is headed.
“It’s going to pass pretty close to St. Mary Parish, there’s no question, if it doesn’t go straight through St. Mary Parish,” he said.
Naquin said meetings began Wednesday morning and have been making plans for sandbagging, although parish leaders aren’t ready to institute those plans yet.
“We’re making sure all of our generators, all of our supplies are up to snuff,” he said. “Although it doesn’t look like it’s going to be a hurricane, you remember Barry wasn’t a very big hurricane last year, and it knocked up pretty good.”
Naquin said parish leaders would keep the public informed through their website, https://stmaryohsep.org/.
“It’s hard to have a big meeting like we’ve done in year’s past because of the COVID crisis and social distancing,” Naquin said. “We just don’t have a room that will hold everybody so we’re trying to ask everybody to keep on top of it with our webpage, go to those websites, the National Weather Service.”
Naquin said Wednesday it is too soon to call any kind of evacuation.
“Obviously, we hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said. “If it stays as is, (I) don’t believe it’s going to be a problem, but again, it’s just a little bit too early to tell.”
Naquin said by Friday, parish leaders would know more about Cristobal’s path as the storm enters the Gulf of Mexico.
“The only problem with that is it’s only going to give us 48 hours before it hits, so it’s going to be on top of us pretty quick as soon as it jumps off the Yucatan Peninsula,” he said.
Berwick Mayor Duval Arthur, Naquin’s predecessor in the OEP office, said it looks like Cristobal will be a rain event.
“We’re bringing in an extra pump just to have on standby, but all of our pumps and everything are working right now, so we’re OK,” he said.
Out of caution, Arthur said, the town will be closing floodgates in low-lying areas along Berwick Bay at Pacific, Lima and California streets, likely Thursday.
He said they also will make sure they have plenty of fuel and enough food for their jail, while town workers will be kept on standby.
Morgan City Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi said that the city is conducting its routine hurricane preparations, such as making sure generators are working and they have adequate resources. He also said the city has secured services, if needed, for any cleanup following the storm.
Grizzaffi said that based on the current forecast, the city will be closing floodgates along the Atchafalaya River with an elevation of 8 feet or below.
“Right now, the forecast is an 8-foot river,” he said, noting that the river is currently at 6 feet.