Coast Guard unit gets a new home
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Port of Morgan City and U.S. Coast Guard officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday to celebrate Marine Safety Unit Morgan City moving in to the port’s Emergency Operations Center on La. 182 from its prior facility on David Drive. From left, are event coordinator Ensign Griffin Terpstra of MSU Morgan City; Rear Adm. Paul Thomas, commander of the 8th Coast Guard District; Port Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade; and Cmdr. Heather Mattern, commanding officer of MSU Morgan City.
Tuesday marked an important milestone in the U.S. Coast Guard’s more than half-a-century presence in Morgan City. Officials with the Port of Morgan City and Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Unit Morgan City held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to announce the unit as a new tenant of the port’s Government Emergency Operations Center. The Morgan City Coast Guard unit moved its offices to the port center on La. 182 from its prior location on David Drive. Cmdr. Heather Mattern, commanding officer of MSU Morgan City, thanked everyone involved in the move for their efforts. “We have overcome 10 years worth of bureaucracy and obstacles,” Rear Adm. Paul Thomas said of Tuesday’s ribbon cutting. Thomas is commander of the 8th Coast Guard District but will be leaving that post in two weeks to serve at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C. The 8th district is headquartered in New Orleans and spans 26 states.
Swollen river looms as Louisiana heads into 2019 hurricane season
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Roger Erickson, warning coordinator for the National Weather Service’s Lake Charles office, points to a screen Thursday during a hurricane season preparedness meeting at the Port of Morgan City’s Emergency Operations Center By ZACHARY FITZGERALD This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Forecasters expect the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season will have just be-low average activity. But officials say St. Mary Parish’s already swollen waterways could lead to a potential disaster if any storm brings significant rainfall.The Port of Morgan City hosted a hurricane season preparedness meeting Thursday at its Emergency Operations Center in conjunction with the St. Mary Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, St. Mary Levee District and U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Morgan City.
Read more: Swollen river looms as Louisiana heads into 2019 hurricane season
Port will put dredging funds to work
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Dredging takes place in the Crew boat Cut section of the Atchafalaya River during April
By ZACHARY FITZGERALD
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In mid-April, dredging began in the Crewboat Cut section of the Atchafalaya River.
Brice Civil Constructors, an Alaskan company, is building a special purpose dredge using an offshore support vessel with a drag arm to reduce the density of fluid mud, known as fluff, in the Atchafalaya River Bar Channel. Port leaders expect dredging of the bar channel to commence by June.
Weather Eyes
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By ZACHARY FITZGERALD
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Meteorologists have full-time jobs watching and forecasting potentially hazardous weather. But they still need help from volunteers known as spotters.
The National Weather Service’s Lake Charles Office, Port of Morgan City and St. Mary Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness hosted a SKYWARN training class Monday to show people how to spot and report severe weather.
Major dredging work nearing start
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The Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District Commission held a stakeholder meeting Monday to mainly discuss upcoming dredging projects. From left, are Port Attorney Gerard Bourgeois, commissioners Pete Orlando and Steven Cornes, and Commission President Joe Cain.By ZACHARY FITZGERALD
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After lots of talk in the past year about starting major dredging projects in the Morgan City area, officials say work will finally be in full swing by the summer.
The Port of Morgan City hosted a stakeholder meeting and its regular monthly commission meeting Monday.
By September, officials hope to achieve a decent enough water depth to accommodate a lot of vessel traffic from Crewboat Cut south of Morgan City in the Atchafalaya River to the end of the Atchafalaya River Bar Channel, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Sediment accumulation has stifled waterway commerce in the Morgan City area, because many vessels cannot get through the waterways.
Business goes on as usual at port meeting
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Standing, from left, Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District Attorney Gerard Bourgeois swears in new portcommissioners Troy Lombardo and Steven Cornes at the start of Monday’s commission meeting.
By ZACHARY FITZGERALD
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Despite the partial federal government shutdown, the first meeting of 2019 for the Morgan City Harbor and
Terminal District Commission went on mostly as it normally does. Two new commissioners, Steven Cornes and Troy Lombardo, were sworn in at the start Monday’s meeting. The commission also elected Joe Cain as commission president, Lee Dragna as vice president, Deborah Garber as treasurer and Tim Matthews as secretary.
