10-9-20
Category three Hurricane Delta is spinning across the Gulf of Mexico toward an expected landfall late this afternoon or early this evening in Cameron or Vermillion parishes. The dangerous storm is apparently set to target the same area of southwest Louisiana battered by Hurricane Laura six weeks ago. Businesses have already boarded up and people have rushed to stock up on last-minute supplies or leave for safety elsewhere. Devastation is still widely evident from Laura, a late August hurricane blamed for more than 30 deaths.
WITH THE APPROACH OF HURRICANE DELTA, MANY CITIES AND PARISHES HAVE SET UP CURFEWS. LAFAYETTE PARISH’S CURFEW BEGINS AT FOUR THIS AFTERNOON AND LASTS UNTIL EIGHT A-M TOMORROW. THE CURFEW IN NEW IBERIA IS FROM TEN TONIGHT UNTIL SIX A-M. ST. LANDRY AND ST. MARTIN PARISH’S CURFEWS STARTS AT NOON TODAY AND WILL END AT EIGHT A-M. A DUSK TO DAWN CURFEW IS IN PLACE FOR ACADIA PARISH. JEFF DAVIS PARISH’S CURFEW IS FROM TEN P-M TO SUNRISE EACH DAY A MANDATORY EVACUATION IS IN PLACE. VILLE PLATTE’S CURFEW STARTS AT MIDNIGHT AND LASTS THROUGH EIGHT A-M. THE CURFEW BEGINS AT FOUR P-M IN MAURICE UNTIL SIX A-M.
CITIES AND PARISH’S THROUGHOUT ACADIANA HAVE SANDBAGS AVAILABLE FOR RESIDENTS. CAROLINE MARCELLO HAS MORE.
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CHURCH POINT POLICE CHIEF DALE THIBODEAUX IS WARNING RESIDENTS THEY MAY NOT GET HELP IN AN EMERGENCY DURING THE STORM. HE SAYS HE TELLS ALL POLICE UNITS TO GO TO THE STATIONARY POSITION WHEN WINDS GET ABOVE FORTY- MILES AN HOUR. THIBODEAUX SAYS HE DOESN’T WANT THEM ROLLING WHEN OBJECTS ARE FLYING AROUND. HE ADVISES PEOPLE IN UNSTABLE STRUCTURES AND LOWLYING AREAS TO MOVE TO SAFER PLACES.
Gov. John Bel Edwards is keeping Louisiana’s current coronavirus restrictions on businesses and activities in place for another month. Those rules have provoked the ire of Republican lawmakers who have convened a monthlong special session hoping to undo many or all of them. The Democratic governor announced Thursday he’s renewing the terms of his pandemic emergency order with few changes and maintaining the statewide mask mandate through Nov. 6. The rules were enacted in September and were loosened from previous orders.
LOUISIANA HAD JUST FIVE MORE DEATHS FROM COVID-NINETEEN IN YESTERDAY’S REPORT FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. THAT’S THE LOWEST ONE DAY TOTAL IN MONTHS. THERE ARE FIVE HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR NEW CASES IN THE STATE. HOSPITALIZATIONS HAVE GONE UP BY TWELVE. THERE IS ONE MORE PATIENT ON A VENTILATOR IN LOUISIANA.
OF THE FIVE STATEWIDE DEATHS YESTERDAY, TWO CAME FROM ACADIANA. ONE WAS IN ST. MARY PARISH AND THE OTHER WAS IN ST. LANDRY PARISH. THERE WERE NO NEW DEATHS IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA. ACADIANA HAD FIFTY-NINE NEW CASES OF COVID-NINETEEN. IBERIA PARISH HAD THE MOST WITH SEVENTEEN, MOVING THAT PARISH’S TOTAL OVER THREE THOUSAND. SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA SAW TWENTY-THREE NEW CASES, INCLUDING NINETEEN IN CALCASIEU PARISH. THE TOTAL FOR CALCASIEU PARISH HAS NOW EXCEEDED EIGHT THOUSAND.
A SHOOTING IN SUNSET SHORTLY BEFORE NOON YESTERDAY LEFT ONE VICTIM IN CRITICAL CONDITION. AN ARREST WARRANT HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR MICHAEL BALONEY, WHO IS WANTED FOR ATTEMPTED SECOND DEGREE MURDER. BALONEY IS THE UNCLE OF THE VICTIM. HE IS CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS. ANYONE WHO KNOWS HIS LOCATION IS ASKED TO CALL SUNSET POLICE OR YOUR LOCAL AGENCY.
