Steve Bandy /Crowley Post-Signal
If you could look up “hit the ground running” in a dictionary, there would probably be a picture of Ashley LeBlanc with it.
LeBlanc took over as director of the Acadia Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness the very weekend Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the first emergency declaration dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
Since then, the area has had, to deal with school and business shutdowns and an onslaught of hurricanes.
“It’s been interesting,” LeBlanc said when she visited the Crowley Lions Club recently to present an overview of the office.
The parish office works directly with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness — GOHSEP for short.
“We also work very closely with local law enforcement, fire departments, non-profits, houses of worship, Red Cross and other volunteer boards and with Urban Search and Rescue,” LeBlanc said.
“We coordinate all emergency response resources and operations for the parish during a state of emergency.”
OHSEP activates its Emergency Operations Center when an emergency is declared.
“And it’s not just for hurricanes,” she pointed out. “There are any number of other emergencies — tornadoes, pandemics, hazmat events.”
LeBlanc touched briefly on a number of specific incidences that have occurred in the parish during her brief tenure including the tornado that touched down in Church Point in May.
“What’s bad with tornadoes is that there is not normally any federal assistance available for the victims,” she said as she scrolled through a number of photos of the damage in Church Point.
The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing concern for her office.
“While the state and this area are doing a lot better, Acadia has had a little over 6% positivity rate for the last two weeks,” she said. “I suspect part of that’s probably because of the storms and everyone getting out for supplies and such.”
To date, the pandemic has affect about 5.13% of the parish population.
In a related matter, LeBlanc touted the effort of The 3 O’Clock Project for distributing more than 745,000 meals in Acadia Parish.
“We are very grateful for their efforts,” she said. “They helped a lot of people.”