Pamela Sleezer

A downed water plant in DeRidder is the latest complication to the city’s efforts to restore full water service to residents, according to officials.

According to Mayor Misty Clanton, in addition to the water plant down there are “hundreds” of water leaks across the city.

“Please be patient as we work to try to restore what we can at this time. We are advising people to have a water contingency plan,” Clanton posted on the city’s social media account on Friday.

Officials have continued to work towards alerting residents of the water restoration efforts, but cell service and internet outages have made the struggle an uphill battle in the days immediately following Hurricane Laura’s devastation across the area.

On Friday, DeRidder officials also encouraged residents to tune their AM/FM radios to local radio station 105.7 FM, out of Leesville, where they would begin broadcasting localized storm and recovery-related information.DeRidder sign

Special to the American Press