Shreveport, Caddo Parish officials provide updates on storm-related issues

If you currently are without water or have low water pressure, your situation will likely continue into Saturday, according to information shared during a Wednesday news conference with local officials.

Road conditions will also remain covered in snow and ice until it melts, as the city does not have salt or the equipment necessary to clear them.

Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator, who serves as director of Caddo's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, joined City of Shreveport Mayor Adrian Pekins and Lyndon B. Johnson, president of Caddo Parish Commission to provide updates on everything that’s going on in the parish and the city as it relates to the impact of the back-to-back winter storms.

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"I know everybody is frustrated with the weather, your electricity, and with your water,” Prator said. “We’re trying as best we can to solve as many problems as we can. I want to assure you that we are out there working hard for you.”

Prator stressed the roads are in “horrible” condition and “dangerous” and that people should stay off the roads unless it’s absolutely necessary to be out.

Prator also warned about sheds collapsing under the weight of ice and snow and asked citizens to get their information from an official government website to avoid false information and rumors.

If you have a sheltering need, Prator asks that you call 211 where you’ll be directed to shelters and get the help you need.

In terms of the water outages happening throughout the city and the parish, in addition to the hospitals, nursing homes, businesses, and residences, the Caddo Parish Correctional Center with low water pressure.

A request has been for the Louisiana National Guard to come and help out here.

The issue is the roads are basically impassable so some of the resources from down south are having trouble getting here to help Prator said.

The Emergency Operation Center has been manned since Tuesday. Those who are there will stay the duration trying to coordinate resources.

“We’re working on ways to transport people if they need critical transportation,” Prator said.

Perkins said two Shreveport Police Department Officers were injured trying to help motorists stranded on the road.

Perkins stressed also to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. He also addressed “misinformation” being spread on social media, particularly the one about the City of Shreveport not helping the homeless and not providing housing for them.

“That it is not true,” Pekins said. “Since last Friday we were doing outreach alongside the Salvation Army and Hope Connections to our homeless population especially in those areas we know them to be, like downtown and various tent cities throughout the city.''

The barrier they face, Perkin added, is If someone refuses assistance.

Perkins added they’ve helped dozens of families get the housing they need.

The other rumor that the energy grid being shut down because it wasn’t getting enough water is also not true, Perkins said.

 “The SWEPCO plants here do not get their water from the City of Shreveport,'' Perkins said. “We are fortunate that our energy grid is going strong right now.

Perkins added what’s not so fortunate for the community is the water system.

“Just to be honest about it, our water system is aging and we don’t typically get weather like this,” Perkins said. "Our water crews have been working all night.”

Road conditions are too bad right now and pose a problem with getting special equipment out to crews doing water system repairs.

Ice and snow on the ground also make it difficult to find the water breaks, Perkins added.

“We are going to continue to work through this entire inclement weather system but we just don’t know if we’ll be able to make enough progress to improve the water status of our citizens with the ice and snow on the ground.”

Perkins urged citizens to do everything that they can and anticipate the water status is going to remain the same through Saturday when things start to warm up and the outage issues can be pinpointed.

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Commissioner Johnson speaks

Caddo Parish emergency personnel will monitor the weather situation and crews will also be out monitoring the roads and bridges and will put sand down if needed, Johnson said.

Johnson also asked citizens to stay off the roads as much as possible so as not to put themselves and/or first responders at risk.

Preparedness going forward

As for preparedness planning going forward, Perkins said that conversation has taken place as far as the city is concerned and there’s no question the water system needs to be upgraded.

When asked about salt and snow plowing equipment, Perkins said, “I understand that we see snow outside right now and want to react to it, but imagine six months ago if I went to the City Council and said, ‘We won’t be able to cut grass because I want to buy salt for this winter.’ I probably would have been laughed out of the City Council meeting.”

Perkins did say it may be necessary to look into investing in salt and possibly trucks but that potentially having to store those items in a warehouse for three or four years or whenever the next snow event happens, makes it a tough sell.

It remains to be seen, given all that’s happened, whether council members will find it laughable to even consider having that discussion.

Commissioner Johnson spoke with parish administrator Dr. Woodrow Wilson about how to be more proactive in dealing with storms like this.

“We’ve had sleet storms in the past and frozen rain,” Johnson said. “What I want to do is repurpose some of the equipment we might have and take those sand trucks and put a front end blade in front of it so that we can put them on the road and clear some of the main roads so those first responders can get to where they need to safely and citizens can get out to the main roads.”

Johnson would also like to repurpose the asphalt trucks to spread salt down on the roads, saying the cost would be less if the equipment is repurposed.

Emergency declaration

Perkins and Johnson signed an emergency declaration a couple of days ago which was taken care of via the homeland security office, Prator said.

First responders

Both Prator and Perkins said first responders are under an extreme amount of stress right now.

“There’s a lot of stress and a lot of pressure on us to be there for everybody,” Prator said.

Perkins added that he is proud of them.

“I’m proud of them for all the work they’ve been putting in for the city,” Perkins said. hey don’t have the luxury of staying home. They are out there every single day for us.”