August 2020

By this afternoon, residents should be taking shelter and avoid hitting the roadways.

Jennings Police Department Chief Danny Semmes said he hopes citizens heed Mayor Henry Guinn’s advice to voluntarily evacuate.

“If you don’t have to be here, try to find a safe location,” Semmes said. “If you have no choice but to be here, by tomorrow afternoon, you need to be at the location you plan to stay for the duration of the storm.”

He cautioned the public about police availability during the storm, as wind and rain could prevent units from reaching certain locations.

Many residents will be utilizing generators if power fails during Hurricane Laura, but the machines come with their own risks of which people should be aware.

Welsh Fire Department Chief John Hall said the biggest issue his department sees when generators are in use is that people keep them in enclosed areas.

“When you put a generator under a type of canopy, carbon monoxide is trapped and builds up,” he said. “If the generator is in an enclosed space near your house, that carbon monoxide, which is odorless, can get inside your home.”

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Laura became a hurricane Tuesday shortly after entering the warm and deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, gathering strength on a path to hit the U.S. coastline as a major storm that could unleash a surge of seawater higher than a basketball hoop and swamp entire towns.

The National Hurricane Center projected that Laura will become a Category 3 hurricane before landfall, with winds of around 115 mph (185 kph), capable of devastating damage.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the seasonal flu causes around 140,000 to 810,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 to 61,000 deaths every year in the United States.

The flu virus is around all year, but it spreads more easily from September through the spring, normally peaking between December and February.

Getting vaccinated can lower the chances of getting the flu. Vaccinations are available anytime during the flu season and can be administered by injection or with a nasal spray. However, timing can make a difference.