St. Tammany Parish Emergency Operations
Thursday, September 22, 2005 6:30 PM
Statement by Parish President Kevin Davis.
Tonight, I was supposed to report to the citizens of St. Tammany Parish on the status of our recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Instead of giving this report to you tonight, I am going to talk about the impending threat of Hurricane Rita.
A few hours ago, I declared a State of Emergency in St. Tammany Parish because of the threat of Hurricane Rita.
I am calling a mandatory evacuation of all areas south of Highway 190 and Highway 22 beginning at 8:00 AM tomorrow, Friday, September 23rd. In the Slidell area, the mandatory evacuation is south of the Fremaux/Shortcut Highway area.
According to the National Weather Service, Tropical Storm Rita has the potential of creating a storm surge between 3 and 5 feet at the Rigolets and between 2 and 4 feet in Lake Pontchartrain.
They are also predicting between 3 and 5 inches of rain in St. Tammany Parish.
Wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour are also predicted for our parish.
These tropical storm conditions, coupled with many already damaged structures in St. Tammany Parish, pose a serious threat to life and property in St. Tammany.
I ask those citizens who are living in tents or camping at their devastated homes, to come to a shelter. You and your family will be safer in a shelter. Bring bedding, snacks and other essentials to the shelter with you.
The following shelters will be open at 9:00 AM tomorrow morning:
Creekside Elementary, Riverside Elementary, 6th Ward Elementary, and Pearl River High in Pearl River
Bayou Lacombe Middle School in Lacombe and Fountainbleu Jr. High in Mandeville
We expect that you will only have to stay in a shelter for one night.
St. Tammany Parish public works crews will continue to clear debris from critical areas but we cannot complete this huge task in time. We have picked up 342 thousand cubic yards of debris through today but it is not enough to clear our streets and drainage ways. We have an estimated 6 million cubic yards of debris in St. Tammany parish from Katrina.
We will not open any sandbag stations for this storm. All available parish personnel will be working to open drainage ways.
St. Tammany Parish government will be closed tomorrow except for essential personnel. Essential personnel are to report to their maintenance barn or the emergency operations center as assigned. The St. Tammany Parish Justice Center will be closed tomorrow.
I am requesting that all other government agencies in St. Tammany Parish follow the same procedure. I also request that all private schools in St. Tammany be closed tomorrow.
I am asking that all businesses north of Highway 190 or Highway 22, consider closing by 2:00 in the afternoon to allow all employees time to reach their homes.
All emergencies should continue to call 9-1-1. I repeat, all emergencies should call 9-1-1. If you need non-emergency assistance tomorrow related to the storm, call 898-2323.
In recap, I want to repeat: I am calling a mandatory evacuation of all areas south of Highway 190 and Highway 22 beginning at 8:00 AM tomorrow, Friday, September 23rd. All citizens in this low lying area are ordered to evacuate tomorrow morning.
I will continue to brief you. Please listen to local media for current information.
Thank you