Jammin': With power on, east St. Mary draws a crowd

Morgan City Police Chief James F. Blair made the call:

Speaking Monday, when power was expected to be restored in the city later in the day, Blair said he expected an influx of people from nearby areas affected by Hurricane Ida when the lights were on again.

That's what happened Tuesday, when traffic on eastbound U.S. 90 backed up to Bayou Vista, and vehicles blocked traffic to line up for gasoline and fast food.

At noon Tuesday, the Morgan City Police Department Facebook page was reporting that power had been restored to most customers of the city utility system. The number of St. Mary Cleco customers without power, which had topped 6,500 early Monday, was down to 79 by dawn Tuesday.

And with the power came the traffic tie-ups.

Before Ida made landfall, the big concerns were wind and storm surge. On Tuesday, Patterson Police Chief Garrett Grogan had two other words to describe the situation: "Traffic and gas."

The influx was both eastbound, apparently made up of returning evacuees, and westbound, the result of people from east of Morgan City looking for groceries and gas they couldn't find in blacked out portions of Assumption, Terrebonne and elsewhere.

"We're the best resource for people coming from the east," said Berwick Assistant Police Chief JP Henry.

The flood of drivers and shoppers is adding to the stress on local departments that have had officers working double shifts since Saturday. Some were posted at busy stores or where traffic was a problem.

"We're trying to help local stores keep order," Henry said. "It looks like people are looking for gas."

Stations that still had gas available were seeing cars line up in turn lanes or even the right lanes of major thoroughfares. Drive-through windows at fast food outlets were jammed, too.

Hurricane Ida, which had been forecast to make landfall near Morgan City, instead came ashore near Port Fourchon just before noon Sunday. The Category 4 hurricane caused massive and widespread damage.

In St. Mary, the biggest problems have been down trees, two or three days without power and loss of cellphone service.

"We're actually doing pretty good ...," Grogan said. "The only problem we had is an act of God. We don't have any control over that."