Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard
Livingston Parish has received $45 million to build a disaster response rescue center. Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said after the 2016 floods and other natural disasters they know how important it is to not only have a place to house those who are displaced…
“And then the other thing is you have all these crews that come in from other agencies, other areas to try to help rescue, help recovery and we have nowhere for them to stay. They wind up sleeping on the floors, the hallways, in the back of their vehicles,” said Ard.
The 100,000-square-foot Livingston Parish Emergency Response and Evacuation Center will be able to seat 5,000 people and will be located south of Livingston on LA 63 south of I-12.
Ard said he got the idea for a shelter when Hurricane Gustav struck. At the time they were able to use a newly constructed detention center that had 700 beds and no inmates yet. That’s where the first responders stayed.
“It was just so more efficient, these guys could actually get some rest, they could do their job better, they could focus better. To be able to do this and be awarded this money is just a great opportunity for this parish,” said Ard.
And it’s not only going to benefit Livingston Parish but surrounding parishes also. Ard said the site will have space for rescue and utility vehicles and will be ideal to house linemen and National Guardsmen.
“We’re hoping that we’ll be able to sleep over 500 to 600 on cots and we’re going to have seating for about 5,000 so this can actually be used as a multipurpose building in the future,” said Ard.
Construction is expected to be completed in late summer, or early fall of 2025.
Comments