St. Mary
State of Emergency; Curfew Issued in Morgan City
Posted: Jun 26, 2012 10:11 PM by KATC
Updated: Jun 27, 2012 1:19 PM
There are multiple updates to this story. Please click here to get the latest information.
KATC has updated information about the explosion at the Joseph J. Cefalu Senior Municipal Steam Plant in Morgan City. The explosion happened right before 6:00 Tuesday evening. The plant was evacuated and no one was injured; however the steam plant does provide electricity for the 6,000 people within the entire city.
Now that firefighters have extinguished the flames, the problem is getting the power back on. The city is trying several options to do that. The first is to bring in diesel generators to get the steam plant up and running. They're also testing a back up generator at the plant to see if that will work. The final option is to bring a mobile transmitter to supply the city with power while crews try to restore the steam plant.
The mayor has declared a state of emergency, and a dusk till dawn curfew is also in place. The city's hospital is working on back up generators for now, but may transport patients out if needed. Meanwhile residents have no lights and no air conditioning. The mayor says the best case scenario is that power could be restored by early morning. Worst case is that it won't be up and running until tomorrow night. The city is also asking people to conserve water because the power plant helps to supply water to the city. They also used a lot of water to put out the blaze.
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