The Washington Parish of Emergency Preparedness came to the assistance of the city of Bogalusa Wednesday by providing a generator for its sewage pump station, according to Director of Emergency Preparedness Tommy Thiebaud.

The generator was purchased with a post Hurricane Katrina grant, he said.

As of 5:30 p.m., Thiebaud said there were nearly 5,000 Washington Parish residents without power including 1,719 Entergy customers and 2,872 Washington-St. Tammany Electric customers.

At that time, 109 people were in local shelters, including 99 in public shelters in Franklinton and Bogalusa and 10 in an independent shelter opened by a Baptist church.

Thiebaud said the latest wind speeds reported for Tropical Storm Isaac at 4 p.m. were 70 miles per hour and that it was moving northwest at six miles per hour.

“Like we’ve all heard for a while,” he said. “It’s going to be here for a while.”

Weather watcher Robert Ladner in Bogalusa said that 4.65 inches of rain had fallen on the city by 6 p.m.