At his press conference on Monday, Louisisana's Governor John Bel Edwards announced President Trump approved his request for Emergency Declaration assistance ahead of Hurricane Sally making landfall.
“And so direct federal assistance is available statewide,” Edwards said. “What we call Emergency Protective Measures are available and approved now in the 30 parishes that we requested.”
He adds there are nearly 12,000 Hurricane Laura evacuees sheltering in hotels in the New Orleans area and that they should stay where they are until after Sally makes landfall.
“We are going to making sure we continue to take care of you there,” he said. “We are not going to be evacuating ahead of Hurricane Sally.”
Forecasters anticipate Sally to bring seven to eleven feet of storm surge stretching from the mouth of the Mississippi river to Ocean Springs Mississippi. Three to five feet of storm surge the governor said, is forecasted in Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas when she hits near the Mississippi state line on Tuesday.
A big challenge with Sally, the governor says, is that it is a slow moving storm.
“What we know with a slow moving storm is that if one of those bands of rain settle over Louisiana we know that flooding is going to be a big concern,” said Edwards.
