From Wednesday: Officials work on evacuations as Delta track moves

A mandatory evacuation, effective noon Friday for areas south of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in St. Mary Parish, including Cypremort and Burns points, was announced by Parish President David Hanagriff after Wednesday afternoon’s conference call with the National Weather Service for an update on Hurricane Delta.
Hanagriff said he was calling the mandatory evacuation out of caution due to projected storm surge.
Based on Wednesday’s forecast for a landfall around near the Cameron-Vermilion line, it appears the major affects in St. Mary will be on the western end, parish Office of Emergency Preparedness Director David Naquin said.
The projections are for a Friday afternoon landfall as a Category 2 hurricane. Rainfall of 4-8 inches, with heavier amounts in isolated areas, are possible.
Hurricane and storm surge warnings are in effect for St. Mary. A 7- to 11-foot storm surge is possible.
Roger Erickson of the National Weather Service said that it appears the flood protection structures in eastern St. Mary Parish should do well with the storm surge.
“But the levee that’s further up the road towards the Franklin area may not be able to stop this water, so that’s a big question mark for Franklin,” Erickson said during the update.
He also said that water is expected along and near U.S. 90 in areas from New Iberia and Franklin.
St. Mary Levee District Operations Manager Mike Brocato Jr. said from the models they have used, he is anticipating water levels to be at least as high as Hurricane Laura. The levee district is currently completing projects in western St. Mary Parish to shore up areas to provide protection.
Also, the storm is fast moving as it was headed northwest at 17 mph as of 4 p.m. Wednesday where it is slowly gaining strength.
“Because the system’s moving so fast, I don’t think we’re going to see hurricane force winds for more than three or four hours, I would imagine, at any given time for any location, and tropical storm force winds I don’t think will last more than 12 hours at the very most,” Erickson said.
At landfall, hurricane force winds are expected to be from 25-35 miles from the circulation’s center, while tropical storm force winds are anticipated from 100 to 140 miles per hour by landfall from the circulation’s center.
The parish is projected to receive 80-90 mph winds with sustained gusts of 45-50 mph and 6-8 inches of rain.
“This is still not good, but it’s a lot better than it could have been at least for today,” Naquin said.
Tropical storm-force winds of at least 39 mph are expected to begin by mid-morning Friday and then increase until about sunset when hurricane force winds will begin. The storm is expected to be gone from the area by Saturday.
Erickson said the storm’s turn to the right is expected to occur during the day Thursday and the “big swing to the right” will occur later Thursday.
Naquin noted that while earlier in the forecast the track was projected to make that right turn and pass between New Iberia and Jeanerette after making landfall, now it is projected to be west of Lafayette and doesn’t make the right turn until it nearly reaches Opelousas.
“There’s a lot that’s changing, and it’s changing every day,” he said.
Also Wednesday:
—Legacy Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Franklin was being evacuated Thursday morning, while Legacy’s Morgan City facility is holding off at least for now because the area isn’t expected to be threatened, Naquin said.
As for help evacuating residents, if that is needed, the news is not very positive.
Naquin said the contract that St. Mary Parish signed for evacuees to go to has been cut from 900 occupants from St. Mary and St. Martin to just 50. Also, hotels are not available to house evacuees because 6,800 residents affected from Hurricane Laura are still being housed in them, Naquin said.
Instead, mega shelters will be set up, but the locations of those have not been determined. They could be from Dallas to Shreveport to Rapides or Ouachita parishes, Naquin said.
However, another issue is transportation, as Naquin said the state has 45 buses statewide and needs 600 to evacuate residents.
“We have some plans that we’re trying to make, but at the end of the day, we’re asking everybody to please, help your neighbor, take them with you, find a spot, make sure you have transportation, because it’s just not going to be as available as it has in the past,” he said.
With the storm’s projections, high water will be an issue from the Wax Lake Outlet on west in St. Mary Parish, Hanagriff said.
“However, we’re going to have a wind situation — and potentially rain, depending on what the forecast model is going to show as we get a little closer — for the entire parish,” he said.
In preparation for elevated water levels, the St. Mary Levee District is closing a gap in what will be the Bayou Teche floodgate.
“The wall is in place,” Levee District Operations Manager Mike Brocato Jr. said Wednesday morning. “We just don’t have the barge. It’s not ready, so our contractor’s out there right now working on setting up a structure to drop sheets across it to block it off. If they can finish that, which they’re telling me they can, that area inside the Teche will be protected.”
He said work also is being done in the Industrial Road and Metal Shark area to provide extra elevation, while work via an emergency contract for the east-west tie in south of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway near La. 317 in the Bayou Sale area is being undertaken right now.
“They’re in the process right now of hauling dirt,” Brocato said. “We’re going to try to build that levee to try to tie in to higher ground to an 8-foot level. That’ll give us a little additional protection there.”
However, he said that the highest elevation protection is provided on the southern end of Bayou Sale at 8 feet.
“With current predictions, it’s more than likely going to top that,” Brocato said.
Flood gates in Morgan City and Berwick up to 12 feet in elevation are being closed as a precaution, while the Franklin, Yellow Bayou and Hanson canals will be closed.
—St. Mary Parish Sheriff Blaise Smith said Sheriff’s Office prisoners were be evacuated by Thursday morning.
—St. Mary public schools and Immanuel Christian School called off classes for Thursday. Both were scheduled to be off Friday and Monday for spring break. St. Martin Parish public schools called off classes for Thursday and Friday.
—St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars declared an emergency and issued a voluntary evacuation notice for lower St. Martin.
—Sandbags are available under the bridge at David Drive in Morgan City; under the bridge near Town Hall in Berwick; at the Taft Street plant and at the fire station south of the railroad tracks in Patterson; bus turn-a-round on East Stephensville Road, Stephensville Park and across the road from the Belle River Fire Station.
—Gov. John Bel Edwards said President Donald Trump has approved his request for a pre-landfall emergency declaration. The move will give Louisiana access to federal resources to deal with Hurricane Delta.