St. James Parish Hurricane Ida Recovery Updates 09/08

Published 12:38 pm Wednesday, September 8, 2021

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Entergy Power Restoration Updates:

  • Number of outages as of 10am: 8,061 – 81% of customers remain without power
  • Percentage of damage assessments complete: 100%
  • 781 poles broken
  • 700 spans of wire down
  • 218 damaged transformers

              Accomplishments:

  • All substations feeding St. James Parish are energized. That includes Lutcher, Bagatelle, Convent, Romeville, Uncle Sam, and Vacherie.
  • St. James Hospital is energized.
  • Lutcher High School is energized.
  • Few customers in Lutcher/Gramercy area off N. Airline are energized.
  • Winn Dixie and subdivision behind it is energized.

Plans of Action:

  • We plan to energize River Road from Zen-Noh Grain to Hwy 44 and 22.
  • We have crews working on Hwy 3125 from Grand Point Road going towards Lutcher.
  • We have crews working on River Road from V&M Motors going towards Grand Point Road
  • Crews continue to work on the West Bank of St. James Parish working from Hwy 18, going towards Donaldsonville.
  • We have crews working out of Convent Substation along 3125 going towards Paulina. Some of those feeders are in the cane fields, and we will need special off-road equipment which is on the way.
  • A total of 350 electrical workers in St. James today.

Garbage Collection:

  • Waste Management residential collection has resumed. All previous temporary drop-off waste collection sites are closed.
  • Tuesday customers will be collected on Wednesday, Sept. 8th
  • Thursday customers will be collected on their regular collection day, Sept. 9th
  • Friday customers will be collected on their regular collection day, Sept. 10th

Storm Debris Pick Up:

  • DOTD began picking up debris on Saturday and will continue to do so.
  • Debris must be categorized by type in order for it to be picked up. [Normal Household Trash, Vegetative Debris, Construction and Demolition Debris, Appliances, Electronics & Household Hazardous Waste.]
  • Absolutely NO bagged trash or debris will be picked up.
  • Residents are asked to please refrain from stacking debris near AT&T Boxes, gas meters, water meters, or fire hydrants to prevent any damages when debris pick up begins.

 Shelter Operations & Human Services:

  • The Parish Shelter is closed. The Red Cross Shelter at Lamar Dixon in Gonzales is open for residents that may need shelter.

Point of Distribution Location Updates:

Additional POD Locations opened today from 10am-4pm:

  1. St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Convent | 10120 Hwy 44
  2. Welcome Park in St. James | 7260 Park Street
  3. Vacherie Elementary | 13440 LA 644

*Ice, Water MREs and Tarps available*

FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams Available to Help Residents at 2 POD locations:

  • Beginning, Wednesday, September 8th to Thursday, September 9th they will be at the Gramercy POD location located at Sacred Heart Church.
  • Starting Friday, September 10th to Saturday, September 11th they will be at the Vacherie POD location located at St. James High School.
  • Please know the Disaster Survivor Assistance Team will be available at various locations throughout the parish in the coming days after.

Utilities:

  • Parish-wide boil water advisory in place until electricity is restored.

Citizen Service Center (225-331-8187)

  • Operating on normal schedule Monday-Thursday 7:30am to 4:30pm and Friday 7:30am-11:30am. The CSC will be closed Saturday and Sundays. All calls can be directed to our dispatchers at 225-562-2200.

Crisis Clean Up:

  • We have several volunteer groups who are in the parish to assist residents with cutting tree limbs and storm clean up.
  • The Church of Latter-Day Saints has established a Crisis Clean Up line where residents can call 844-965-1386 to place a work order for assistance.

Oxygen Cylinder Exchange

  • Residents may call 225-562-2364 to have their Oxygen cylinder exchanged.
  • Cylinders will be exchanged at the Emergency Operations Center located at 5153 Canatella Street, Convent 70723
  • In order to get a new cylinder, residents must bring an empty one.

Sheriff’s Office Updates:

  • Reminder: A curfew remains in place and will be strictly enforced between the hours of 7 pm and 5 am daily.

St. James Parish Hospital Updates

  • Hospital power has been restored.
  • The hospital has seen an uptick in COVID cases. Please be cautious and wear a mask when necessary.

Open Critical Services [Fuel, Groceries, Food, Supplies, Pharmacies]

  • Matherne’s Supermarket – 7am – 6:30 pm
  • Veron’s Supermarket – 9 am – 3 pm
  • China King – 11am – 7pm
  • Home Hardware Center – 7am – 3:30pm
  • Belmont Lumber – 7 am – 4:30 pm (closed between 12&1)
  • Blues Grocery – 10am – 2pm – cash only (Monday thru Saturday)
  • Golden Grove
  • Superstop – closes at 7pm
  • Jubilee gas station- closes at 7pm
  • Pop-in-Go #11 Vacherie – closes at 6:45pm
  • Sunshine Plaza – 24hr schedule
  • Shell in Gramercy – 6 pm
  • Tompkins Pharmacy 9am – 2pm day by day
  • Winn Dixie Pharmacy – open 8-5 Monday thru Saturday
  • Gem Drugs – Gramercy – Open 9-6
  • Napa Auto parts – Vacherie
  • Louisiana Federal Credit Union 12-2

**We are working to update a complete list of businesses open – if you know of any please contact the PIO at 225-264-3309 or email publicinformation@stjamesla.com.

Clerk of Court Updates

  • All criminal and civil court for Judge Steven Tureau the week of September 13th is cancelled and will be notified for a future date.