Allison Morgan
GOHSEP
225-439-3976
ahadley@ohsep.louisiana.gov
Baton Rouge– The
Governor’s Office of
Homeland Security and
Emergency Preparedness
(GOHSEP) activated its
Crisis Action Team (CAT)
at 1800 hours on
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
to monitor the flash
flooding and severe
weather conditions in
Louisiana.
GOHSEP’s CAT team is a
small team of employees
that man the State
Emergency Operations
Center (EOC) on a 24
hour basis to monitor
the weather conditions
threatening the state.
Multiple areas of
Louisiana have received
damages due to flooding
and high wind/tornado
activities since
Tuesday. The rainfall
began Tuesday night and
broke several records,
including the most rain
to fall in a 20-minute
interval and the most
rainfall in a three-hour
period in Shreveport,
LA.
On
May 15, 2008 Governor
Bobby Jindal declared a
State of Emergency due
to the flash flood
producing torrential
rainfall, large hail,
damaging straight line
winds, tornados,
flooding and wind
damage. As a
precautionary measure at
the local level Bossier,
Caddo, East Carroll,
Livingston, St. Martin,
Tangipahoa, Washington,
West Baton Rouge and
Lafayette have all
declared a Parish State
of Emergency.
GOHSEP has deployed
Preliminary Damage
Assessment (PDA) Teams
and are assessing the
damages in the affected
areas to determine if
federal assistance could
be available.
“We are working closely
with our local partners
to provide needed
assistance as a result
of the recent severe
weather” said Col.
(Ret.) Pat Santos,
incident commander and
assistant Deputy
Director of Emergency
Preparedness for GOHSEP.
