Erath residents on W. Lahasky Street were ordered a mandatory evacuation notice this weekend. Erath Mayor John LeBlanc says the street regularly floods. The street was still closed Tuesday afternoon. 

Civic leaders across the Teche Area continued to monitor storm conditions and prepare for the worst on Tuesday.

Loreauville Mayor Brad Clifton says he’s been monitoring drainage systems in the area to keep on top of things. 

“We’ve done well so far,” he said. “We’ve drained pretty good.” 

Clifton added that the town has also gotten sandbags out to people. 

“We’re pretty much ready to go,” Clifton said.

Baldwin mayor Donna Lanceslin echoed that sentiment.  

“We’ve had no damage and no real flooding, but we are preparing,” said Lanceslin. “If the water gets higher, people are to leave and go to the Community Center in Baldwin. The Red Cross will be there. We have beds at the courthouse too,” she said.

Lanceslin and Franklin Mayor Raymond Harris Jr. attended a meeting Tuesday evening put on by the St. Mary Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. Harris said that he and other officials discussed just simply reinforcing plans that had already been put in place for days, if not weeks.  

“We discussed the high tide and the storm surge that are going to come in simultaneously at about 12:45 a.m.,” Harris said. “We were expecting one foot to three feet, but now they’ve adjusted it from two to four feet. That didn’t really change our plans though. We closed the flood gate on the Franklin Canal, but we were going to do that anyway.” 

In Erath, a housing project near the town’s fire department was issued a mandatory evacuation over the weekend. “That place always floods,” said Erath Mayor John LeBlanc. 

On Tuesday the street, W. Lahasky, remained flooded and closed to traffic.

“We have had no damage yet but we have high water. All of the bayous are full,” said LeBlanc, who also stated that most or all of the town’s preparations have already been made. 

On Tuesday afternoon, sandbags lined the entrance to the buildings downtown and on the porches of homes across town. 

“We delivered sandbags to all of our businesses in town. We have to take care of our businesses,” said LeBlanc. 

The town also brought in two loads of sand, and residents were encouraged to bring their own bags and fill them. 

“We had a lot of people come get it, and not just from Erath,” LeBlanc said. “We had people from New Iberia and Lafayette coming for sand too.” 

I’Lani Roberts, of Erath, was stuck at home Monday, unable to make it to work in Lafayette when her street flooded. She was off on Tuesday. 

“I’m supposed to work tomorrow,” Roberts said, “but who knows. They know I live in Erath, so they’re all kind of on standby.” 

Forecasts call for another band of heavy rain from Hurricane Harvey to hit the area around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning. 

“My wife isn’t from here, so she gets a little worried,” said John Young, of Erath, who had taken refuge from the on-again off-again rain in the city’s Museum Cafe and Bar downtown. “You just got to wait it out. Just drink a beer and wait.”