St. Mary Parish officials are unsure when they will allow residents to return to the area following Hurricane Gustav’s Monday passing, but many in Franklin and Baldwin feel the area got off lightly.

St. Mary Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness Director Duval Arthur said he wants West St. Mary Parish to get safety and hygiene issues taken care of before residents were allowed to reenter.

“We are still doing some assessments,” he said. “The majority of problem is electricity, water and sewerage. If we can get through those, we feel like we will be confident in letting people back in.”

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The only people being let in right now are in Tier 1 — first responders, petroleum industry representatives, medical personal and other people that were identified as the first tier before the storm hit.

Arthur said several municipalities in the parish had little damage so they will be most likely have power sooner than others. He was also relieved to report his office received no reports of injury or loss of life.

He did say steam, electric and water plants in Morgan City were completely wiped out.

Franklin

Arthur said there are a few houses in Franklin with trees through houses, and St. John Elementary cafeteria lost its roof.

The Franklin Canal came inches from over topping. The canal did not crest thanks to a temporary levee built next to the canal two days prior to the storm’s landfall.

Franklin Fire Chief Peggy Davis said two tornados touched down Monday, one near Franklin Foundation Hospital and one that traveled down the west lane of Main Street.

She said their were very few power lines down in town with only a couple of fallen poles.

“We were really truly blessed with this one,” Davis said, adding crews started working on clearing main access roads Monday night while Cleco was in town accessing the situation.

“As far as I know right now, I don’t think they will be letting people in right now until they get more roads cleared and power back on,” Davis said. “This one I would have to say, was a lot better than storms we’ve had. We were really lucky and blessed with this one.”

Baldwin

Public Works Director for the town of Baldwin Lonnie Simoneaux has similar sentiments to Davis, saying the town fared pretty well from the storm.

“There are some trees down and few power lines fell,” he said. “I think we did very well. No major transmission lines look to have fallen here, which is certainly good news.”

He said crews are working now to get the streets cleared before residents can come back.

Simoneaux also said there have been no reports of injuries, fatalities or looting as of midday Tuesday.