“Be prepared for the worst, and let’s hope for the best.”

That’s what Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso told his top commanders Friday morning as Southwest Louisiana hunkered down ahead of Hurricane Harvey. 

“This is what the public pays us for,” he told them. “You’re trained, you’re well-equipped, you know what to do.” 

Mancuso said a call center has been set up to take non-emergency calls. The number is 491-3846 and will be open for calls 24 hours a day beginning at 6:30 a.m. Sunday.

“It looks like the significant weather impact for us is probably going to be Sunday into Monday and Tuesday and possibly Wednesday,” he said. 

Mancuso said Southwest Louisiana’s “problem areas” for potential flooding will be Old Town Bay and the West Fork, Moss Bluff, the lower and west parts of Vinton, Niblett’s Bluff, Bell City and low-lying areas in Carlyss.

“With (Hurricane) Rita we didn’t have to worry much about our population,” he said. “Now we have our population here, and we just don’t know how much rain we’re going to get. This could be a pretty significant, catastrophic event should we get 10-15 inches of rain dumped on us; our grounds cannot take this right now.”

He said the Calcasieu River will be closed to recreational boaters starting at 8 a.m. today. 

Mancuso said residents should stock up on supplies, fill their gas tanks and take care of their own personal safety. 

“We’re going to do the rest,” he said. 

Mancuso said now that a mandatory evacuation has been issued for all areas south of the intracoastal waterway, Calcasieu Correctional Center is housing prisoners from Cameron Parish and has made space should looting be a problem after the storm.

He said a helicopter and watercraft are on standby should rescues become necessary.

“I hope we do all of this for nothing — that would be the best case — but we have to prepare for the worst,” he said.