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Five members of the Washington County Emergency Management team joined four members of the Tulsa Police Department and deployed to Louisiana in response to Hurricane Delta.

WCEM Director Kary Cox said he arrived with his groups in New Orleans around midnight Thursday. Cox said they've been assigned to Terrebone Parish to support emergency operation. He said they're prepared to help a state in need that has seen an active hurricane season.

Cox said he understand that the Terrebone Parish has been activated three or four times this hurricane season. He said it has been a pretty busy year for the folks down in Louisiana. For instance, the parish west of where Cox and his team are located was hit particularly hard during the last hurricane that swept through the state. Cox said they're right in the path of Hurricane Delta.

Joining Cox in Louisiana from Washington County, Oklahoma is Deputy Director Melissa Mayes, volunteer David Swindell, volunteer Jerry Kelley, and volunteer Paula Cox. The Terrebone Parish will be doing a full activation of its Emergency Operation Center. Cox said the EOC will be managing everything from evacuations to sheltering to whatever emergency response may be needed during and immediately after landfall of the storm.

The group was asked for a seven day deployment. Cox said they could be in Louisiana as late as Tuesday, but he doesn't expect that to be the case at this point based on the forecast and the briefing they received on Thursday afternoon. He said they could get redirected to other parishes west of their current location, but they won't know until Saturday or Sunday.

Washington County Emergency Management and the State of Oklahoma finds it important to help another state during their time of need. Cox said they would hope that Louisiana would help Oklahoma if disaster were to strike like they're helping them with their hurricane response. He said this is also a great opportunity for the WCEM to learn from others and how they respond to issues as they arise because that will help them be better prepared in their response to disasters that occur here locally.

Hurricane Delta is anticipated to make landfall by 4:00 p.m. on Friday.

Photo courtesy: NOAA and the National Weather Service