While forecasts for Hurricane Ike plot the soon-to-be Category 3 storm slapping Texas/Mexico border this weekend, local authorities remain guarded, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

Parish emergency personnel — hot off a marathon run of work during Hurricane Gustav — remain at a Level 3 threat this week, the same as if a tropical storm rumbled ashore. Their cell phones remain at their side, ready to be called to the Emergency Operations Command center in Covington should the storm take a last minute jog northeast.

But State Police, Sheriff’s Office officials and parish government remain optimistic the parish will dodge this storm bullet.

Crews were out early Thursday morning trimming tree limbs for CLECO that could possibly affect power lines. This crew was on Kathleen Drive in Covington cutting potentially hazardous limbs near the power lines. (Staff photo by Debbie Glover)

The warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico will allow Ike to gain strength, likely reaching at least Category 3 status before landfall on east Texas Saturday or Sunday, according to AccuWeather.com. As it plows through the Gulf of Mexico today easterly winds will increase tide levels on the Mississippi coast. And as those winds shift southeast, the Northshore could see winds speeds 25 to 35 mph and tide levels 3-5 feet higher than normal, parish officials said.

“I am asking residents of coastal St. Tammany to closely monitor Hurricane Ike,” Parish President Kevin Davis said. “This is a large and dangerous storm. While its not expected to make landfall anywhere in our vicinity, we expect that Ike’s wind will affect Lake Pontchartrain.”

Suzanne Parson Stymiest, parish spokesman, was more optimistic.

“It’s looking so good for us right now,” Stymiest said. “We’ll be looking at a couple inches of rain and a couple feet of storm surge. Unless something dramatic happens, we will be OK.”

That storm surge may send water into low lying areas throughout the parish, including the Mandeville lake front where whitecap waves crackled over the storm wall during Hurricane Gustav, flooding several blocks with waist-deep water that tapered off as it went north. In south Slidell, however, where storm surge was minimal, a rarity for the low-lying area, some officials are prepping for the worst.

“Damned by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, we were blessed in 2006 and 2007 by the absence of another major storm,” Slidell Mayor Ben Morris said in a press release on the city’s Web site. “That doesn’t mean a Katrina-like hurricane can’t happen again. As always during the mean season, it’s better to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.”

Still the mayor cautioned residents living in low lying areas of Slidell such as the Palm Lake subdivision and Camelia Drive take necessary steps to protect their property. There was flooding in those areas during Gustav. State Police this week — already battled tested to direct a contraflow during Hurricane Gustav when 1.9 million people were evacuated safely — are on standby this week to do it all over again.

“We’re spooled up,” Louis Calato, Troop L State Police spokesman said. “We’re ready to do it.”

In Mandeville, Mayor Eddie Price is concerned trees damaged during Hurricane Gustav will snap and fall scattering more debris throughout the city.

Gavin Phillips, a meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Slidell said the effects of Ike, high winds and heavy rains, should subside by tomorrow as the storm gets picked up by a trough and speeds off to the northeast.

“It’s a much drier storm than Gustav,” Phillips said. “But I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of tornadoes.”