The state of emergency in East Baton Rouge Parish put in place last Thursday has been repealed, parish officials said Monday.
Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a statewide state of emergency Thursday in preparation for severe weather anticipated to come with Tropical Storm Karen, which was expected to hit Louisiana over the weekend.
Will White, a coordinator for East Baton Rouge Parish Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Office, said the state of emergency was called off because the storm’s danger has now passed.
Baton Rouge was always unlikely to see serious consequences from the storm, White said.
“It was just a precautionary measure in case we received any damage from the storm,” White said. “Some parishes to the south of us implemented evacuations or severe weather warnings, but we didn’t need to.”
Jindal’s announcement of a state of emergency was joined Thursday by warnings from the National Weather Service, who issued storm warnings and a coastal flood advisory lasting until Sunday. At the time, Karen was expected to strengthen to a Category 1 hurricane by Friday.
The state wide state of emergency is scheduled to continue until Nov. 1 unless the governor’s office decides to cancel it earlier, Jindal said in a statement Thursday.
According to state agencies, the state of emergency for Louisiana as a whole is still in effect, but many weather warnings in individual parishes are being called off. Plaquemines Parish lifted all evacuation and curfew orders Monday, after a mandatory evacuation order was lowered to voluntary on
Saturday.
Some University students said they found the state of emergency order frivolous and unnecessary considering the experience most Louisianians have with dealing with hurricanes.
“I guess it’s good to be prepared, but we all knew it wasn’t going to be anything bad,” said electrical engineering junior Quinlan Rawles.
But Rawles said as long as the state of emergency for the state remains in effect, people may as well take advantage of the situation.
“It might sound weird, since a storm just came through, but now is definitely the time to buy gas,” Rawles said.
One stipulation of a state of emergency is that Louisiana’s price-gouging laws are put into effect. These laws effectively mean that for the duration of the state of emergency, prices for staples such as gas and food cannot be changed from pre-state of emergency levels.
While Karen is now listed as “dissipated” on the University’s Earth Scan Lab web page, LSU EOC reminded students that hurricane warnings and states of emergency should be taken seriously.