LAFOURCHE PARISH, La. — This hurricane season we will see congregate sheltering once again. That means mass evacuation shelters. The state put evacuees up in hotels last year due to COVID, but that is not the case this year.
"My wife works at Walmart and she says they're busy as can be, people are running picking up everything they can, shelves are almost empty," Raceland resident, Ronnie Tabor said.
Like everyone else in Lafourche Parish, Tabor is watching and waiting to decide whether he should evacuate.
"If we hear its coming at a strong 3, we're gone because I'm on dialysis so I have to go to where it would be feasible for me to do my dialysis somewhere," Tabor said.
He lives near the Raceland Recreation Center which will be used as an evacuation shelter this year.
"You'll see the volleyball nets come down, you'll see a few cots come up for people, but we always tell people this is a shelter of last resort, it won't be a Hilton," Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson said.
According to Chaisson, the state will use mass shelter sites this hurricane season. Last year, the state-funded hotel stays for evacuees to keep people separate due to COVID.
"We've gone back to strictly congregate sheltering because of the tremendous cost to put people into the hotel and the repair costs after that as people tend to mess up some hotel rooms," Chaisson said.
Chaisson said they haven't issued evacuation orders yet, but people should be preparing now for that possibility, especially if they live outside the floodgates.
"Typically with a storm like this we will also call a mandatory evacuation for anyone in a mobile home," he said.
He reminded residents if they need to stay at an evacuation shelter, masks are required, they will conduct temperature checks and space people out. Evacuees are not required to be vaccinated to stay at a shelter.
"It's always better to get with a family or friend, this is a shelter of last resort," Chaisson said.
Chaisson reminds residents if you need to evacuate, bring three to five days worth of food, water, and medicine.