GRAY – Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet has ceded control of the local response to Hurricane Gustav to Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois, both officials said today.

Bourgeois said Claudet put him in charge of managing the disaster Tuesday based on the sheriff’s nearly three decades in law enforcement and past experience with hurricanes.

Jerry Richard, formerly the parish’s director of emergency preparedness, is now Bourgeois’ assistant, the sheriff said.

The switch was after made Hurricane Gustav made landfall just south of Houma, Claudet said, because “we could not get a command center situated.”

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