Covington City Council members aimed a storm of criticism at Mayor Candace Watkins Thursday morning, saying she did not communicate with any of them during the Hurricane Gustav emergency.

Watkins evacuated to St. Paul’s School instead of the Emergency Operation Center in Covington, and although she traveled to the EOC for meetings, council members said she did not call any of them with updates.

“You could have driven to the EOC to see what was going on,” Watkins fired back during a special Thursday morning meeting. In addition, she said the information was readily available online and on WWL radio.

Earlier in the meeting, council members had discussed misinformation that had been dispensed through WWL radio concerning evacuations around the Old Landing area and other areas bordering the Bogue Falaya River.

In reality, the reported crested flood stage was lower then in previous flood events, said Councilman Lee Alexius. Several council members said that having a councilman at the EOC would have prevented much of the panic that resulted from the misinformation.

Firefighters on four-wheelers drove up and down the streets warning people through bullhorns to evacuate. Watkins said the parish engineers determined which areas should be evacuated.

One councilman reported the order to evacuate was still scrolling on WWL-TV as of Thursday morning.

Council members said they were inundated with phone calls from neighbors and constituents on problems such as power outages and lift station generator failures, but they had no answers readily available. Individual councilmen called city department heads seeking answers, they said.

Councilman Mark Sacco said the entire hurricane emergency was made worse by a “hugh communication disconnect. The council members talked to each other, but the mayor called no one.”

“At the Sunday meeting when the council enacted the emergency declaration and emergency operations procedures, (the Mayor) said everyone should evacuate, meaning the City Council, because we’re a drain on the city resources,” Sacco added.

Council President Matt Faust said he knows the city government can do better than what it did.

“Private businesses do this all the time,” he said.

At his business, Statewide Bank, conference calls were set up with an 800 number, and they held conferences at 8 a.m., noon and 4 p.m. each day to assess the situation, he said.

Watkins said other municipalities had councilmen in the EOC, so maybe Covington should have also. City Council members said that either the council president or a member-at-large should be there from now on to get information first-hand to pass along to the other council members.

At the end of the meeting, councilmen still wondered why the mayor did not call them and why they had to get information from a radio station, Web site or the parish’s call in number to give to their constituents.

In another matter, CLECO representative Scott Biggers said most of the city now has power. He said in two days the company had restored about 76 percent of power in the western district of CLECO. The eastern district, which includes Slidell, has about 80 percent of power returned.

Biggers said if someone still does not have power, they should check the breakers in their house first. If there is still no electricity, call CLECO, because it may be an isolated event.

It was also reported that during the hurricane William Pitcher Junior High was a designated shelter, but Watkins said there was no electricity for about 300 people. There were some disturbances during this time because the special needs shelter at Covington High was sending overflow patients to Pitcher, she said. As a result, there were some mental patients at Pitcher, and this created an uncomfortable situation, Watkins said.

Covington Police Department spokesman Capt. Jack West said at least one patient was taken to the hospital for evaluation, then returned to the shelter and restrained. West said conditions at the shelter were not good. No cots were provided, and many people put their blankets on the floor. The floor was sweating badly, and within a short time West said everything got wet.

In contrast, the animal shelter at Lyon Elementary was air-conditioned, and the animals were kept very comfortable. A question remains as to why Pitcher had no generator.

Also, Councilman Clarence Romage alerted everyone to a possible traffic hazard on Collins Boulevard and Lee Road. He said the traffic light is not working, and the busy intersection at least needs stop signs each way until the light can be repaired.

Watkins also reminded constituents that Coastal Waste Services will be picking up household garbage. All storm debris should be moved to the curb so an assessment can be made as to the need for contract debris removal. Storm debris will be assessed on Monday.

West said two cases of looting were reported — one at Urban Street and the other at Quick Stop Number 4. Arrests have been made, and investigations are continuing in the two cases.