Calcasieu urged: Leave, and leave now

People in Calcasieu Parish are urged to flee as quickly as possible because the area could experience tropical-storm conditions as early as Friday afternoon. From there, the conditions are expected to rapidly deteriorate.
Government services, including fire and rescue operations, will be suspended once the winds reached tropical storm levels, officials said.
“This is not a situation where you want to ride this out,” said Dick Gremillion, director of the Calcasieu Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness. “We need people to leave.”
Gremillion said a shelter of last resort will be opened for people who do not evacuate -- but its location will not be made public until the last minute, to discourage people from staying.
“There will likely be shelters of last resort, but they will only be a roof over your head,” Gremillion said. “Some people we know will have circumstances that will not allow them to leave the area, but with a storm of this magnitude, I just want to make it clear that we will not have any buildings that will be safe.”
Gremillion said the storm could power a storm surge of 15-20 feet above sea level in Cameron Parish.
The surge would push its way up the Calcasieu, Sabine and Mermentau rivers and their tributaries, flooding areas along those waterways.
“This is not a coastal phenomenon,” Gremillion said. “This is very dangerous, and you only have to look to the New Orleans area to see why. Chalmette, for example, had a 20-foot storm surge.”
Jeremy Harper
Staff Writer