HOUMA, La. — Up river, Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish leaders say they are waiting, watching and monitoring the potential path of what is Invest 92, and may become Tropical Storm Barry.
In the scalding heat, with index temperatures in the 100s, people in the Houma area are taking the tropical storm threat in stride.
When one woman was asked if she was shopping for or concerned at all about the storm, she replied, "No, no. I'm not at all. I didn't even know they really had one coming."
At the grocery, there were shoppers stocking up on soft drinks and water, lots of it, but for non-storm related reasons
"No. I'm shopping to do maintenance on fork lifts at Sam's," said a woman who explained the cart full of water was for the work crews.
"No ma'am. I'm just very pregnant and I eat a lot," said a shopper who was loading groceries in her car.
"I'm in a good place, and I'm not worried about it," said another shopper.
An employee said at Lowe's, there is a slight increase in tarp sales, but not generators. If the storm comes, they will put more generators out to buy.
But the tarps may just be protection from the heat, not for the storm.
"I guess we prepared for it all the time. So we good," said a man who was just getting regular supplies.
We asked another man if he was used to approaching storms and he said, "Yes ma'am. I am, so we prepared for it anyway. So we good."
For now, both Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish emergency planners are monitoring the National Weather Service. Drainage canals are already low because of the dry weather.
The pumps have fuel and are ready to go just in case. Public Works is making sure leaves are removed from drainage ditches. And they say, with the Morganza to the Gulf Hurricane Protection Project 90 percent complete, low lying places that were once prone to flooding, are more likely to stay dry.
Tracking Invest 92
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