Hurricane Zeta Landfall-day Update
Covington’s own meteorologist Michael Efferson offers a concise update on today’s hurricane:

Winds look as bad or worse than I mentioned yesterday across New Orleans and Slidell. Covington, Hammond and Baton Rouge should be about the same. 

Bottom Line:
- Take this storm seriously. It WILL be worse than hurricane Delta was for those east of I-55 (Covington, Slidell, New Orleans metro) 
- Get your errands finished by noon. 
- 4 to 6 hour window of intense rain and dangerous winds
- It will not be safe to be on the roads late this afternoon. 
- Winds should rapidly relax after around 9-10pm. 

City Impacts from most to least:

New Orleans/Slidell: 60-90mph winds. Expect scattered trees down and power outages lasting from a few hours to a few days. Localized street flooding likely.  

Covington: 40-70mph winds. Expect isolated to scattered trees down. Many will lose power for short period to a day or 2. Localized street flooding likely. 

Hammond: 30-50 mph winds. Isolated trees down and maybe powerloss for less than a day. 
Garbage / Recycling Pickup
Garbage will be picked up this morning (Wednesday) — But not per usual. Trucks are running early to beat the storm.

Customers were advised to place bins out last night, then secure bins today after pick up, prior to storm.

Assuming storm path and timing does not change, recycling will remain on Thursday.

After the storm: Leaves and clippings should be bagged and placed curbside on garbage day. Small piles of branches should be consolidated amongst neighbors (making the boom-trucks more efficient).

Changes in pick up schedule will be posted by Coastal Environmental Services on Facebook and on their website:
Covington Public Works is pre-positioning barricades for frequent flood hot-spots as well as cleaning culverts / catch basins. Big thanks to those residents who adopt a ditch or catch basin to check and clean prior to storms ( RivF : ).

Reminder: Covington streets are a NO WAKE ZONE. Though you may drive through safely, your wake rolls up into businesses and homes that otherwise would not flood. Avoid flooded streets when possible ... go slow when unavoidable. Be kind.
Covington Fire Department
Covington Police Department

CovFD will be checking on our most vulnerable, homebound residents prior to the storm.

Cov PD will be on stand-by.
Sewer Lift Station
Generators are fully fueled.

CLECO order of re-energizing outages: 1) Hospitals 2) Nursing Homes 3) Sewer Lift Station / Treatment Plant 4) Traffic Signals 5 ) Residential Neighborhoods.

Repair crews are being pre-positioned today. To monitor outages & repair times, use CLECO's app or Outage Map.
City Hall will be closed today, Wednesday, October 28th
Replying to this e-mail goes directly to Mayor Mark
Utility bill auto-draft from your checking account eliminates multiple steps for your utility billing clerks ... which makes city hall more efficient. 
That's a good thing.
If you have bulk debris or green waste , missed trash or recycling or need a new trash receptacle, click for Coastal Customer Care Form
Rooted in History, Focused on the Future
City of Covington | Website