Parish lauds storm response with local entities

Every public body and beyond performed admirably when Hurricane Barry set its eye on St. Mary Parish.
That was the consensus among the administration and parish council Wednesday.
Chairman Gabriel Beadle praised the coordination and cooperation between the parish and municipalities as Barry crept ashore. “It was amazing to see the municipalities, the parish and also state and federal all coming together as one. Absolutely amazing.”
He added, “To see the sheriff’s office, to Coast Guard, to the National Guard, coming in…we were prepared. We still had some issues on the west side (of the parish) with some flooding, but this could have been so much work, and I believe that we had so much going on and prepared, it was amazing to see.”
Councilman Dale Rogers said, “I like the idea of the job that (St. Mary Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security director) David Naquin has and the job that Jimmy Broussard did, two (emergency operations centers), one to the east and one to the west. That thing worked great. They were communicating so great with Parish President Hanagriff, it was just beautiful see how the organization worked.”
Hanagriff also lauded parish employees as well as Naquin and Broussard. “There are things we can do to make communications even better,” he said. “We were almost in the same room. Now don’t get me wrong, in any storm there are issues, and I think there are issues that we can get better at.”
Noting that parish council members themselves were out and about during the storm, he said someone said to him, “You must be tired,” to which Hanagriff said, “No, those guys out there flood fighting are tired.
“Going forward, we’re going to look where we can improve, and try to make it better.”
Councilman Ken Singleton said, “We have several volunteer fire departments, and one I saw, Chief Clarence (Clark at Fire Protection Dist. 11) doing some big stuff over there on the west end. As a member of my fire department in my area, as it started, we were in the area getting between 10 and 15 calls putting out fires and lines on houses and other things. They’re unsung heroes, people don’t see them, they’re not a paid department, they leave their families at home, most of the families leave…they stay at the fire station and they don’t get recognized.”
Coucilman Craig Mathews said that patting backs for a job well done is good, but “there are a number of people that are hurting still today as a result of the impact of this storm. I’m very interested to hear what resources are available to us now that people, where they can go for help.”
Problems in his district include fallen trees on homes, insurance company issues and more, Mathews said.
He also asked the administration to question power company Cleco, “which is a fine company,” what protocols are in place to determine when they mobilize in the midst of a severe storm.
Also, Chief Administrative Office Henry “Bo” LaGrange said that debris pickup crews are working from the extreme east and west borders of the parish toward the center in the unincorporated areas. A second sweep will be made to pick up any remaining debris, LaGrange said.