Watch: St. Tammany Parish update on impacts from Hurricane Francine

I just wanna give a brief update of what we experienced, what we experienced last night, what our citizens uh experienced and what we're doing today uh to move forward with restoration. Uh We had wind gusts, uh of course, last night, some reported in the 40 miles an hour plus, uh particularly along Lake Pontchartrain, uh in the lower part of Saint Tammany Parish, uh, the biggest impact was rainfall, of course. Uh We received significant amounts of rain some up to 10 inches. Uh We've got, uh, we've measured and in some areas 6789, 10 inches across the parish which uh of course, results in uh, uh rivers and, and water features being uh swollen. The, uh, thankfully there were no injuries reported and only a few homes reported minor injuries. At this time. Our public works crews and utilities crews woke up before the sun rose, uh to push the fallen trees off the road and to check our utility systems. Most if not, all of the trees have been removed from our parish roads and there were some on uh state highways as well. And D dot D has responded to that. This is a time not to go sightseeing. We've been urging that before the storm during the storm and even now, uh as we uh continue to make sure all of our roadways are cleared for emergency services and for our utility crews uh to be able to move forward in restoring uh our services. Our concern this morning is the river levels. As you know, I just mentioned, we had quite a bit of rain here in Saint Tammany Parish. Every waterway is swollen after this, after this rain. And of course, it also includes water coming south from our northern neighbors. We're experiencing flooding on our smaller waterways which feed to the larger rivers. Water may still be in your roadside ditches, but this is where we would prefer the water to be uh and not in your, not in your yard. So as the water recedes, uh the with, with the wind blowing, hopefully north now to help the water recede, uh the water in the dishes will, will recede and uh we'll take the water to the lake. The water may stay there for a moment while the lake returns to normal levels. The good news is that we're not expecting any additional rainfall in the coming days. The four rivers that we have gauges on and monitor regularly are the Chunka, the Boga Flyer, the Pearl River and the Bogota River. We will continue to monitor these rivers. Uh The these rivers are expected to continue to increase in levels while everything drains. The predictions indicate that they will not rise to concerning levels. They're expected to crest this evening with the exception of the Pearl River, which is usually a day or two after the other three rivers. Once these rivers crest and recede, this will allow all of the small, smaller waterways to begin to drain. As of now, there are about 35,000 people or homes or businesses without power. This is broken down into 18,600 for Clio, 16,100 for Washington, Saint Tammany Electric and under 100 for energy, which is the smallest uh electrical provider in Saint Tammany Parish. This is why it's critically important to stay off the roads, allowing our utility crews to restore this power. The good news is our providers have indicated that there was not major damage to the transmission lines. Three of our water systems are currently under a boil advisory. This is the utility systems under Saint Tammany Parish government due to the storm and out of abundance of caution. Those three neighborhoods are Abita Lakes, Lake Hills and River Oaks. Again, you should have received a notice of a boy advisory out of precaution due to uh drop in water pressure due to electrical outages. Uh those citizens have been identified and notified some of the private utilities. Magnolia Water Company has reported three systems that are under a boil advisory. Cherry Wood Regoes estates and Pin Mill estates. If you have further questions regarding those systems, you may contact your representatives at Magnolia Water. The Parks Water works system has issued a boil advisory as well for Ponderosa ranches in the slide area. Uh Again, if you have questions regarding that, you may contact parks, waterworks. Our schools and Saint Tammany parish government and local governments remain closed today and are scheduled to reopen tomorrow. I'm looking at my notes to make sure that I've covered everything at this point. Uh Of course, we mentioned yesterday too that we've got uh uh nonprofits that are seeking donations. I'll just mention the United Way of Southeast Louisiana and the North Shore Community Foundation. Each have websites open and uh ways that you may donate to, to the aftermath of Francine for those who may need uh assistance before I take questions uh and, and provide answers. I'd like to say that our goal has always been and is now to have full restoration of all services for our residents and business owners here in Saint Tammany Parish restored as quickly as possible. So please know that we're working on that. Our parish government uh has been here at the EOC with other representatives throughout the day yesterday, throughout the evening, throughout the night and early this morning, as we uh continued to provide uh services to our citizens.