New Iberia Mayor Hilda Curry has changed her initial order for all city employees to report to work at 8 a.m. this morning to just emergency personnel in the Wastewater and Public Works departments.

All department heads, she said, are at City Hall today, the day after Hurricane Gustav blew through the Teche Area.

Other city employees are awaiting further notice, when the rain begins to subside, before returning to work.

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Curry said Gordon’s Construction and Landfill has been contracted by the city to clear debris and has moving debris to the side of the roads.

“We’re doing the best that we can under these conditions,” Curry said.

Owner Gordon Doerle said his company is focusing on trees in the streets and hanging from wires. Monday night they cleared trees from Darby Lane, Loreauville Road and St. Peter Street. “They had trees covering the whole road,” he said.

Today’s heavy rains are slowing workers down, Doerle said, adding that the streets’ water levels are rising, which increases dangers for workers using equipment like chain saws.

Doerle said they will start house to house pickup over the weekend.

“That gives people a chance to clear their yards,” he said.

He said the company would make around “five passes over a period of time” and that if a resident’s house or area is passed, they’ll be returning.

Curry said there are 73 sewage pump stations in New Iberia. There are not enough generators for all the pump stations, so wastewater employees are moving generators from one pump station to another to get them going.

Curry said she was told by a representative of CLECO that the company is working on restoring power to hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, the 911 center, the wastewater plants, LAWCO and other central city facilities. After that, she said they will start restoring power to grocery stores and businesses that provide supplies.

SLEMCO Communications Manager Mary A. Laurent said as of 9:40 this morning the company had restored power to 6,953 Louisiana customers. 78,305 customers remain without power. This is 84 percent of their system.

Laurent said crews from Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio and parts of Louisiana that weren't impacted by Hurricane Gustav had arrived to assist.

Curry said traffic lights are out except “in very few areas of the city.”