[StBernard] St. Bernard, Plaquemines officials say hurricane lessons learned

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard, Plaquemines officials say hurricane lessons learned
by Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune 
Wednesday May 27, 2009, 9:24 PM
Nearly four years after the one-two punch of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
left their parishes under water, officials in St. Bernard and Plaquemines
parishes say they are much better prepared to handle hurricane season.

Last year's one-two punch of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike was a good test, they
say.

"Gustav turned out to be a good training exercise for us, " said John
Rahaim, assistant director of St. Bernard Parish's Department of Homeland
Security and Emergency Preparedness. "We made a lot of preparations.
Everything we put in place worked well. It was a good exercise for the
parish and the region to work together to help each other out."

Gustav brought heavy storm surge flooding to parts of rural St. Bernard
Parish outside the levee protection system.

In Plaquemines Parish, Gustav and Ike wreaked havoc on some levees near
Pointe Celeste and Braithwaite. On the east bank, the levee problems at
Braithwaite threatened a subdivision, and on the west bank, a large levee
breach let floodwaters push across Louisiana 23, cutting the peninsula-like
parish in half near Myrtle Grove.

"One thing we didn't do last year was prepare and stockpile sandbags, "
Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said. "This year we set a goal
of 10,000."

Nungesser said the parish is relying on volunteer labor to fill the sandbags
and will store them in three locations across Plaquemines so that parish
workers can get to them quickly if they need to be deployed to boost sagging
levees.

During Gustav, Plaquemines had to rely on help from Orleans and St. Bernard
parishes to sandbag a trouble spot in the levee in Braithwaite.

"This year we'll store sandbags and equipment on the ferry landing so we can
fight it right away as soon as we get over there, " Nungesser said.

In St. Bernard, Rahaim said the "general outlook is always optimistic, but
guarded. The corps is telling us the levees are in better shape than they
have been in a long time."

Officials in both parishes are asking residents to do two things: Begin
making their own hurricane plan and heed any orders to evacuate if
necessary.

Rahaim said St. Bernard Parish will not offer any shelter of last resort.

Nungesser also said if a severe storm threatens evacuation will be the best
advice. But he also said that in the case of a less severe storm, a shelter
will be set up at the Belle Chasse Auditorium.

"If it requires a full evacuation, the auditorium will be used as a staging
point. But if it's not a big storm, we can bring people from the lower end
of the parish to the auditorium and use that as a shelter. We stick out in
the Gulf, a storm can affect (the) lower end but not cause much trouble in
the north end."

In both parishes, buses would be used to help those without transportation
if an evacuation is ordered.

In St. Bernard, special-needs residents should register with the parish to
get assistance in an evacuation. Residents with special needs -- -- those
who require special medical care or do not have transportation -- -- should
call 504.278.4322 or log onto www.sbpg.net to download a registration form.

In Plaquemines, residents can call a 24-hour hotline at the Emergency
Preparedness office, 504.297.5660. The Web address is
http://www.plaqueminesparish.com/emergency-preparedness.php.

. . . . . . .

Bob Warren can be reached at bwarren at timespicayune.com or 504.826.3363.