Hurricane Rita Information - Beauregard Parish

Important: Reload this page to be sure you are seeing the latest updates

Posted Oct 21, 2005
The Office of Family services has let us know that additional funds may be added to the disaster food stamp cards on Nov 3rd. There is a number on the card which you can call to get the balance on the card. They advised that everyone save their cards and call for a balance around that date.

Posted Oct 19, 2005 - FEMA Update:
FEMA will be at the old Price-Lo grocery store in the Park Terrace Shopping Center on HWY 171 North.
They will be open to the public beginning October 20th, 2005 from 9:00 am - 7:00 pm, 7 days a week.
More information will be posted as it is made available.

Posted Oct 17, 2005
Hurricane Rita pictures from around Beaurgard Parish
Posted Oct 14, 2005 Update on FEMA, trash pickup, etc
Posted Oct 13, 2005 FEMA Center to Open in DeRidder

Daily Updates
In the days immediately following Rita, BPSO issued daily updates. Click the link below to read them:
News Release - Beauregard Parish Sheriff Department

Posted Oct 7, 2005 We spoke to FEMA regarding the difficulties some people are having receiving the email with the FEMA pin number. They are aware of the difficulty and are suggesting that affected people create a Yahoo email account and use that address to create a FEMA account. You can do this even if you previously setup an account with a different email address.
Followup 10/10/2005 : FEMA is sending pin numbers to beau.org addresses now.
Posted Oct 6, 2005
Additional Computers at Rural Library Branches

The Library continues to offer computer access to area residents and to anyone sheltering or helping with disaster recovery in this area. Additional computers will be made available at branches where there is a demand. Most branches reopened this week. We anticipate being on our normal schedule as of Mon, Oct 10th.

Recovery Information

LSU has posted some helpful information on post-hurricane recovery. The website is: http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/family_home/hazards_and_threats/recovery_assistance/

Red Cross Applications

Some people who have gone to the Civic Center today have reported that the Red Cross workers at the Civic Center are currently only taking applications from people who have extensive damage to their homes. We will add more information on this as we receive it.

Posted Oct 2, 2005
Supply Center
We have been notified that the supply center at the old K-Mart building is open to the public only on a special needs basis at this time. Individuals must have permission to come on the site. If there is a special need, contact the center at 460-8326.
Posted Oct 1, 2005
Links

Louisiana Dept of Social Services Information on many state assistance programs.
FEMA Application Process Includes link to on-line application.
FEMA 800 Numbers
LouisianaWORKS Disaster benefit information from the Dept of Labor.

Elderly? Special Needs?
The DeRidder City Police are encouraging residents who have special needs to call them if assistance is needed. For details, see this Beauregard News article: DeRidder Leading Way Back for Beauregard
Supplies?
The supply center at the old K-Mart building is opening to collect and distribute supplies to area residents. We will post a schedule of open hours as soon as we receive one. The supply center is being operated by local churches. Donations of ice, water, medical needs and baby supplies are needed. Karl Leger has been appointed to manage the center.
Posted Sept 30, 2005
American Red Cross Needs Volunteers
The American Red Cross will be setting up at the War Memorial Civic Center on 7th street in DeRidder, between the dates of Oct. 3rd thur Oct. 7th. They are in need of about 100 volunteers or more. You will be required to take a training session. Please contact JoEtta Richardson @ 337-463-3806. The answering machine is out, please continue to try and reach someone.

Effective Immediately The Beauregard Incident Command Will Be Putting Out One If Not Two News Releases Daily Concerning Issues In Beauregard Parish. Please Send All Requests For News Releases To Robert McCullough At The Beauregard Parish Sheriff Department AT 337-463-3282, Ext. 118. If You Have Specific Questions That You Want Answered Please Submit Them To Me And I Will Get The Question Answered At The Daily Incident Command Meetings And Report Back To The Media.
Please click link below for News Releases.
News Release - Beauregard Parish Sheriff Department

Posted Sept 27, 2005
Here we go again. These pages will contain as much information as we can manage to get as fast as we can post it.

We are back online after about 80 hours without power. We hope to start getting updated information for these pages soon.

Posted Sept 24, 2005
State of Emergency

A State of Emergency has been been declared at both the State and Federal level.

Beauregard Parish is now under a Hurricane Warning and a Flood Watch.

Evacuation Info

As of Noon today, September 22, 2005, everyone in mobile homes and low lying areas are recommended to evacuate. As of now there is no call for a general evacuation, but this is subject to change.

Anyone evacuating from Beauregard Parish is urged to go north out of the parish as local shelter space is very limited and will probably be without electricity.

Shelters have been opened in Beauregard Parish and are taking in local residents.

First Baptist Church in Longville
South Beauregard School
VFW in DeRidder
Next to open will be the Church of the Nazerene and 1st Baptist in DeRidder.

Sheltering in Place

Those sheltering in place should be aware that local emergency rescue operations will cease as soon as local winds exceed 60MPH. This means that if you have an emergency, even if you can get a call through to e911 that there will likely be little they can do for you.

Local closings

The library will close Thursday at 4:30 and remain closed until further notice. (Mostly depends on when electricity is restored.)
Walmart is closing Thursday at 2PM. Walmart is also out of gas.
All Beauregard Parish Schools are currently closed.
All Parish government offices will be closed starting Friday.
Boise is closed.
Ampacet is closed.

Other sources of information

The local police dept and e911 asks that local residents DO NOT call them for evacuation information, including road closings to keep their lines available for emergencies. Instead you are urged to listen to local radio and television and the following Internet sites.

Lake Charles American Press

The Lake Charles American Press will not be publishing in print until the storm passes but they intend to keep their webpage up and updated as long as possible.
They have an alternate site at http://americanpress.blogspot.com.

National Hurricane Center

The most authoritative information on the track and expected conditions are to be found here.

Louisiana State Police

The Louisiana State Police have the most up to date information on road closures, highways switched to all northbound traffic, etc.