ST. MARY PARISH — As tropical activity brews in the Gulf, officials in St. Mary Parish are urging residents to take early precautions, with many recalling the damage left behind by Hurricane Francine just last year.
“Be weather aware, always,” said Jimmy Broussard, Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for the parish. “It’s not just us telling you that the rain’s coming, you have to know for yourself you know.”
Francine brought flooded streets, power outages, and prolonged cleanup efforts across parts of the parish. With the current disturbance expected to bring isolated street flooding, parish crews are already stepping into action.
“The drainage district that we’ve talked to, they have to pump down their bayous, channels and everything, and canals so that they’ll be enough reservoir for when the rain comes,” Broussard said.
Parish officials say sandbag locations will be announced soon through the parish’s website and social media pages. Broussard mentions a storm preparedness guide that offers residents step-by-step advice for planning ahead, especially when it comes to pets, medication, and home protection.
“It gives you ideas about what to do, how to protect your home before you leave, what to do with your pets you know, you’re bring them with you and you gotta prepare their food, what kind of medicine they take and everything so it’s not just you you gotta worry about, you gotta worry about your others,” Broussard explained.
James Burrell, a former Franklin resident who often visits family in the parish says staying prepared is second nature to his family “I communicate with my family mostly, so I have a brother in New Orleans and I have a younger brother in Morgan City so usually we take her with one of them,” Burrell said.
“I guess we’ll see what happens,” he added. “I always try and prepare for them when I hear about them first hand, I always try and make sure I have water and all the stuff I need.”
In Morgan City, Parish President Sam Jones said recent infrastructure upgrades—funded through the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA)—have improved local pump stations and drainage capacity.
“It’s not the final help but it’s an intermediate help that’ll help people,” Jones said. “But we got the money to do that and hopefully do that for the sake of posterity.”
Officials say storm prep remains a year-round effort—but this week’s forecast offers a timely reminder: it’s never too early to get ready.
