St. Mary Parish Sheriff David A. Naquin, in conjunction with the St. Mary Parish Council, announced that inmates have started sandbagging operations in anticipation of high water threats this spring. Sheriff Naquin advised "we just wanted to get a head start before actually needing sandbags". In addition, we have been asked by the St. Mary Parish Levee Board to closely monitor Vehicle and recreational vehicle traffic on the levees in St. Mary Parish.

In a couple of incidents, damage has been done to some of the levees and levee bases. Persons caught damaging levees will be charged and prosecuted. The Parish Council has also been made aware of the situation. We are also asking that persons who launch boats at area boat landing to be careful in parking their vehicles and trailers in such a manner as to not create issues that could cause damage to the levees. Sheriff added that "I cannot stress enough the seriousness of the situation". We have not had the potential high water threat that we have now for quite some time.