Small Business Advice

Parishes in Southeast Louisiana are recovering from Hurricane Francine, a Category 2 storm that knocked out power and caused a flood emergency. Residents are now waiting for floodwaters to recede and power to return. Helpful information: Power outage reports across Southeast LouisianaA list of roads closed due to Hurricane Francine A list of schools closed across Southeast LouisianaKeeping up with the latest resources and updates in your parish may be difficult. Here’s what we know is happening in your parish. Here is a parish-by-parish list of those efforts: Lafourche Parish: Phone numbers: Emergency: 911Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office: (985) 532-2808-Lafourche Parish Government HOTLINE: (985) 537-7603Curfew: Thibodaux is under a curfew starting Thursday, September 12, 2024 at 10 p.m. and it will be lifted Friday, September 13, 2024 at 6:00 A.M. This curfew does include Nicholls State University Campus.Road closures: Numerous streets have downed power lines, poles and trees and/or standing water. DO NOT drive around barricades. Do not drive into standing water. Here are the primary closures. Laurel Valley Road between LA 308 and Choctaw RoadAbby Road (300 block)West Camellia Drive (2500 block) Go to www.511la.org for all state highway closures. Shelter: Lockport Community Center (5610 Highway 1) – Bring at least two days worth of food, water, medicine and bedding, as well as power banks and charging cables for electronic devices. Closures: Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office administrative offices will remain closed until further notice.Lafourche Parish Government offices, Lafourche Parish District Attorney’s Office, Clerk of Court Office, and the 17th Judicial District Court are closed Thursday. Lafourche Parish public and private schools are closed Thursday.Nicholls State University and Fletcher Technical Community College campuses will be closed Thursday with all classes and campus events canceled.Lafourche Parish Head Start will be closed Thursday and Friday.Lafourche Parish public schools, Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Catholic schools, Bayou Community Academy, and Lafourche Parish Head Start are closed through Friday. Trash Pickup: Normal residential garbage pickup resumes Friday Tangipahoa Parish: Road Closures: Antioch Road, one-quarter mile north of Chavers LaneBlack Cat Road, approximately 1500 ft west of US-51;Brickyard Road, approximately 1000 feet north of Elm Street;Brown Road (Ponchatoula) at Sisters Road;September Rain, just south of Sweet Olive Lane, power lines are down;General Ott, approximately 300 feet west of Happywoods Road, tree down.This list will be adjusted as crews continue to do assessments across the parish.St. Charles ParishPublic Works and Entergy crews are out assessing damage, clearing roads, and working to restore power. Please only travel if you MUST. Drinking water remains safe to drink. Do not touch downed lines, even if you think they’re phone lines. Report downed trees and lines to the EOC at 985-783-5050 or communications@stcharlesgov.net.St. James ParishCrews have started working to assess residential damage in the area. The transfer sites are opening at 7 a.m. The West Bank Landfill is the location to bring vegetative debris, and please sort all curbside debris according to Parish Guidelines. Please dont place debris under power lines. Road Closure: Highway 20 on the Lafourche side of the Bayou Cheverille bridge is overtopped and impassible due to high water. River Road by Manresa, Nicole Street, and Airline Drive are also impassable. Airline Highway is open. Both bridges are open, and all major highways.Shelters: Shelters will remain open and will be evaluated if they need to remain open. Transportation services are only available for emergency transportation to the shelter. West Bank Reception Hall – 2455 Highway 18 Vacherie, LALutcher Senior Center – 2631 Louisiana Ave., Lutcher, LA 70071Closures: Parish offices and buildings are also closed. Please call the Citizen Service Center at 225-562-2500 for assistance and report any storm damage starting at 8 a.m. Garbage: Waste Management will resume picks starting Thursday. Meals: The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and United Cajun Navy are partnering with Parish President, Pete Dufresne to distribute disaster food boxes at the Lutcher Senior Center on Saturday, Sept 14th starting at 9 am until supplies last. We look forward to service the residents affected by the power outages and flooding in St James Parish. Volunteers are welcome to show up for 8am to begin setting up the food boxes.Terrebonne Parish: All residents in Terrebonne Parish are subject to a mandatory parishwide curfew until further notice. The curfew is to let first responders and workers work to assess and clear roadways of debris and powerlines. A boil water advisory is in effect for Consolidated Waterworks District No. 1 for customers from 803 Highway 55, to the end of Highway 55 including customers on Aragon Road from 725 Aragon Road to the end of the Aragon road. All customers along Sarah Road also need to boil their water. Customers from Boudreaux canal to Cocodrie along Highway 56 are in the boil water order, as well as customers on Highway 665 to Island Road. The curfew will be lifted once the roadways are deemed safe to travel. Hot meals: Tyson Foods will deploy its Meals that Matter Disaster Relief Team to provide hot meals to those impacted by Hurricane Francine and the severe flooding the storm brought to south Louisiana. Volunteers from the company will be on-site to serve hot meals, ice and water and donate protein to the community to support those in need. The meals will be at the Walmart Supercenter in Houma from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. St. James Parish: Sheriff Claude J Louis Jr. and deputies are still assessing parish roadways. Some parish streets remain impassable or are partially blocked due to downed trees, poles, and power lines. Closures: Highway 20 is open between Vacherie and Chackbay area Highway 44 in Convent near Manresa remains closed due to a treeHighway 3127 and Highway 3125 are open Jefferson Parish: Water Usage: The Jefferson Parish Sewer System is fully functional at this time, so there is no longer a need to conserve water usage. Residents and businesses can resume all regular activities (i.e. washing dishes, laundry, etc.). Entergy Restoration Update: As of this morning, Entergy estimates that 90% of its customers in Jefferson Parish will have electricity restored by noon on Saturday, September 14. See update here. Report Damage: If your home or business sustained damage from Hurricane Francine, please submit a damage report online. This survey will help parish, state, and federal authorities better understand the location and severity of storm impacts. Finding Licensed Contractors: The Home Builders Association of Greater New Orleans has developed a list of resources to support recovery efforts, including curating a list of members ready to help with everything from generator service/repair to roofing and water mitigation; preparing information to keep residents and businesses protected from post-storm scammers; and finding local licensed contractors. Francine Relief Fund: The United Way of Southeast Louisiana launched the Francine Relief Fundto support relief and recovery efforts for our community’s most vulnerable population. All contributions will directly support storm-affected households. Read the press release here for more information. Military Family Assistance Fund: All veterans affected by Hurricane Francine are urged to apply for assistance through the Military Family Assistance Fund. The MFA Fund provides eligible veterans and members of the Louisiana National Guard or Reserves up to $10,000 for need-based claims. Click here to apply. Kenner updates: Curbside garbage collection resumes today on its regular schedule. Curbside recycling collection resumes Monday, September 16th. Kenners drop site (dump site) will be open tomorrow and Sunday (September 14th and 15th) with normal hours of operation (9am-3pm) Kenners sewerage system is operating at full capacity. Residents no longer need to conserve water. Repairs to Williams Blvd in Rivertown are complete. Williams Blvd is fully open and passable. The 200 block of 27th Street next to the 27th Street and Salem Lift Station is closed for safety reasons due to the development of a sink hole. Some traffic signals remain without power throughout Kenner; motorists are asked to proceed with extreme caution. Kenner Government Offices will reopen Monday, September 16th at 8:30am. Kenners Emergency Operation Center remains activated today. The phone number for non-emergency assistance is 504-468-4357. Reminder, call 911 for emergencies. The Market at Kenner City Park is cancelled for Saturday, September 14th. The Kenner Boat Launch at Laketown remains closed until further notice.Residential Damage ReportingGOHSEP has launched a property damage survey at www.damage.la.gov. Please fill out the survey to report damage to your home in the aftermath of Hurricane Francine (residential structures only, no vehicles). Information collected here will help parish, state, and federal authorities better understand the location and severity of damage impacts.For continuous updates, visit www.kenner.la.us/francineand follow us on all social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and X. To receive weather and emergency alerts from Jefferson Parish, text JPALERT or JPNOTICIAS to 888-777.St. John the Baptist Parish:All St. John Parish Government Offices will remain closed tomorrow, Friday, September 13th. The Edgard Courthouse will reopen Friday, September 13th.Long-term Recovery: If your home was damaged due to Hurricane Francine and you are uninsured, then you can stop by New Wine, Monday through Thursday, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to fill out an application requesting assistance.New Wine is located at 1929 Airline Highway in LaPlace.Entergy Restoration Efforts:Parish President Hotard remains in constant contact with Entergy who plans to have more than 75 percent of remaining power outages in St. John restored today.We started off the event with over 13,000 outages. Now, Entergy has notified us that we have 3272 outages remaining. Even if you havent seen the trucks, progress is being made. Entergy has also confirmed that repairs will be ongoing in Garyville today to the broken cross arm causing widespread outages.You can also call 1-800-969-8243 to alert Entergy if you see a pole down or hanging wires.Road Closure: Highway 51 is closed from Main Street to Ruddock due to water.US 51 from Ruddock to Peavine Road remains closed due to high water. Limit Sewage: Due to the amount of rain and power losses, please limit sewer use, including washing clothes, dishes and unnecessary showering/flushing.Garbage will resume tomorrow (Friday, September 13th) Residents are asked to keep carts separate from anything else so that garbage can get quickly get removed and separate bags from loose debris.Orleans Parish:EMERGENCY RESOURCE CENTERS The following New Orleans Recreation Development (NORD) Commission recreation centers will be open as Emergency Resource Centers on Friday, Sept. 13 from 7 a.m. 9 p.m. for cooling and device charging:Rosenwald Recreation Center (1120 S. Broad St.) Spanish interpretation available Oxygen exchange availableCut-off Recreation Center (6600 Belgrade St.) Oxygen exchange availableJoe Brown Recreation Center (5601 Read Blvd.) Treme Recreation Center (900 N. Villere St.) Spanish interpretation available Oxygen exchange available If oxygen is needed outside of the listed hours, residents can contact the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) non-emergency line at 504-821-2222. COMMUNITY LIGHT HOUSES Together New Orleans has activated the following Community Lighthouse locations for cooling and device charging: Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 11 a.m. -1 p.m. (1823 Washington Ave.) Broadmoor Community Church, 9 a.m. 5 p.m. (2021 S. Dupre St.) First Grace UMC, 10 a.m. 2 p.m. (3401 Canal St.) Trinity Community Center, 8 a.m. 5 p.m. (3908 Joliet St.)Many of these sites still need volunteers. If you would like to volunteer at a Community Lighthouse, sign up at http://www.togethernola.org/storm_response. The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority is providing updates on service in response to this week’s storm: RTA returned to full bus service over the course of the day after starting the morning with service on a limited schedule while also supporting the streetcar lines. The Canal-Cemeteries, Canal-City Park/Muse, UPT-Riverfront, and Rampart-Loyola streetcar lines are back in service. The St. Charles Streetcar Line remains out of service until further notice. Ferry service remains suspended until further notice. We are continuing to restore our Customer Service Center operations. With RTA land line phones down, we are operating Rideline and Paratransit at a reduced capacity and ask callers to be patient and keep trying.St. Tammany Parish:The Tchefuncte, Bogue Falaya and Bogue Chitto rivers continue to trend downward in water levels today. All three are expected to be below flood stage by the end of the day. The Abita River continues to recede, but at a slow pace of about 1.25″/hour. The Pearl River at Pearl River is in ACTION flood stage, but appears to be nearing an intitial crest. The waters may recede slightly over the next 2 days, but can be expected to increase again by Tuesday of next week. The Pearl begins north of Jackson, MS and receives rainfall from that area as well and it takes time for the water to make it down here. Low-lying areas along the Pearl should remain cautious.We do still have a few roadways that are impassable due to standing water. Please do not attempt to drive through flooded roadways. These should be receding soon as our river and lake levels return to normal.Debris pickup begins today across St. Tammany Parish. Please be sure to separate your construction debris, vegetative debris and white goods (such as appliances). If you have construction debris and white goods, please contact our Public Works Department directly to arrange pickup directly at 898-2557. Remember not to bag debris and put it right by the street for our crews.Please fill out the Public Damage Assessment Form to help us gauge damage in our parish and get the resources needed for a fast recovery!Public Damage Assessment Form: https://arcg.is/0eTiGr0Power has been restored to call but 500 Cleco customers.