HAHNVILLE — St. Charles Parish is experiencing street flooding, downed trees and power lines and wind damage to some structures this morning as Hurricane Isaac makes its way through our area. Entergy is currently reporting 15,957 customers without power in St. Charles Parish.

Residents are asked to cut down on sewerage usage as widespread power outages are already causing some sewer backups. Officials are urging residents to HUNKER DOWN AT HOME over the next 24 hours as the parish will continue to experience extremely strong winds through at least this evening. Rainfall amounts may equal up to 20 inches.

Currently at the courthouse in Hahnville wind speeds are at 38 mph average sustained with gusts of up to 74 mph. A gust of 110 mph was clocked overnight at a pumping station in Bayou Gauche.

We expect tidal surges to begin pushing toward the parish between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. today on the back side of the storm as winds shift around and come out of the south. Isaac’s slow foreward movement of 6 mph and westward moving track will increase storm surge chances for the West Bank.

All parish pump stations are operational and being monitored, however, the combination of high tidal levels and heavy rainfall can cause flooding conditions very quickly.

Please note that emergency medical, fire and police services will have extremely limited abilities to respond to calls for assistance today because of wind speeds and safety concerns for first responders.

CURFEW INFORMATION FROM THE ST. CHARLES SHERIFF’S OFFICE:

A curfew is in effect from 8 p.m. until 6 p.m. nightly until further notice.

RE-ENTRY INFORMATION:

St. Charles Parish will allow re-entry immediately after the storm. However, if a certain area is heavily damaged by flood or wind damage making it unsafe to enter, those areas could be restricted for safety reasons. As a general policy, the parish will make every effort to allow residents to access their own private property. Please check the parish website for parish status reports.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS:

Residents can report downed power lines, downed trees, power outages, high water and other damage to EOC by calling (985) 783-5050, e-mailing publicinfo@stcharlesgov.net or logging on to the parish’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/stcharlesgov) or Emergency Blog (stcharlesgov.blogspot.com). The Public Information Office will be maintaining a list of such information for residents to use as a resource at stcharlesgov.blogspot.com.

SCHOOLS INFORMATION:

Public schools will remain closed through the rest of the week and the regularly scheduled Labor Day holiday on Monday. All athletic events for the week and weekend have been cancelled.

PLEASE NOTE:

St. Charles Parish remains under a mandatory evacuation.

If traveling through flooded areas, please drive slowly. It is ILLEGAL to create wakes that could potentially push water into homes and/or businesses.

Parish offices will be closed today, Tuesday and Wednesday. A decision on re-opening is forthcoming.

Businesses may report damage to St. Charles Parish Economic Development and Tourism Director Corey Faucheux at cfaucheux@stcharlesgov.net.

Please call 1-800-ENTERGY for information on power outages.

Any questions may be directed to the St. Charles Parish Emergency Operations Center at (985) 783-5050 24 hours a day.

Please stay tuned to local media, Cox Cable Channel 6 in St. Charles Parish, www.stcharlesparish-la.gov, 1-888-SCP-9EOC or 1370 AM in St. Charles Parish for further announcements. The parish’s social media sites will be updated continuously at www.facebook.com/stcharlesgov and www.twitter.com/stcharlesgov. To sign up for emergency text messages and e-mails, visit www.stcharlesparish-la.gov and click on ‘Emergency Alert System’ on the left side of the page as well as ‘E-Newsletters’ at the top of the page.