BATON ROUGE, La.
– Anticipating a
potential impact of
a weather system
predicted to become
a tropical system
late Friday or
Saturday, Governor
Kathleen Babineaux
Blanco today
declared a
precautionary State
of Emergency,
following a Unified
Command Conference
Call with state
agencies to discuss
the developing
weather system.
In the proclamation
advised coastal
parishes to call for
the evacuation of
citizens living in
low lying areas and
those living in
trailers.
Click here to read
the proclamation.
She further ordered
her Office of
Homeland Security
and Emergency
Preparedness to
upgrade its level of
readiness by
activating personnel
from critical state
agencies working
within the Emergency
Operations Center (EOC).
Those state agencies
include Louisiana
State Police, the
Louisiana National
Guard, the Louisiana
Department of
Transportation and
Development, the
Louisiana Department
of Agriculture and
Forestry, the
Louisiana Department
of Health and
Hospitals, the
Louisiana Department
of Social Services,
the Attorney
General’s Office and
the Division of
Administration
Due to the potential
threat to Louisiana
posed by the
disturbance, these
agencies will be
manning their
respective positions
on a 24 hour basis
as of 6 p.m. this
evening.
Earlier today, Gov.
Blanco and GOHSEP
hosted Southeast and
Southwest Hurricane
Task Force
conference calls to
update State
agencies and Parish
leadership on the
developments of the
disturbance and to
ensure the State was
aware of the
potential needs of
the Parishes.
Currently, the
parishes have not
requested resources
from the state and
believe organic
parish assets will
be all sufficient to
manage this current
situation. Should
any parish require
additional assets,
the State stands
ready to support
their requests.
Subsequent
conference calls
with the Unified
Command and the
Hurricane Task
Forces are scheduled
for Friday.
To further ensure
the State’s
readiness, the
Governor ordered
school buses,
ambulance support,
National Guard
transportation
assets and shelter
operations personnel
to be on standby.
