Calato: Now is not the time to start your travel back into parish

"Absolutely not," were the words of Louisiana State Trooper Louis Calato when asked if St. Tammany residents could return home Tuesday.

Because of hundreds of trees, countless power lines and other forms of debris littering the roadways throughout the parish, Calato said citizens of St. Tammany should stay put until the powers at be could assess the situation and pave a safe route for traveling.

"There's an enormous amount of electrical lines across the roads," Calato said. "We don't know if they're energized or not. Now is not the time to start your travel back."

Although Hurricane Gustav made landfall south of New Orleans, his wrath was felt as far north as St. Tammany, leaving most of the parish vacant, without power and some of the major highways under water.

Louisiana Highway 22 is inundated by water between Mandeville and Madisonville, making it impassable, Calato said. Several other roads across the parish are also under water, including streets in Mandeville and Slidell.

Calato also said every throughway leading to N.O. is currently closed including the Causeway, Twinspans, U.S. Highway 11 bridge, U.S. Highway 90, Interstate Highway 55 and U.S. Highway 51, both in Tangipahoa Parish, are also off-limits to commuters for the time being.

There is also a parishwide curfew in place that lasts from dusk to dawn.

Aside from the rubble across the roads, Calato said another reason residents should stay put is the lack of electricity.

"There is absolutely nothing open," he said. "No stores, groceries or even gas stations."

He also said because of the widespread power outages, traffic signals are also turned off making the situation even more treacherous for police.

"We're asking everyone to please stay where they are," Calato said. "The less people we have to deal with, the faster we can do what we need to do."

For now, Calato said, officers and parish officials will continue assessing the situation before implementing any cleanup plans.

"Thankfully it's not what we thought it was going to be," he said. "The recovery will be much faster than Katrina but we still have a long road ahead of us. We have our hands full."