Bogalusa Public Works Director James Hall said he was advised by the National Weather Service this week of a “brief impact of disturbed weather over the Caribbean due to the remnants of Tropical Storm Harvey,” which could hit Bogalusa on Saturday.

Tropical Storm Harvey reached hurricane force on Thursday, and is expected to be a Category 3 hurricane, with winds of at least 111 mph, before making landfall somewhere on the mid to lower Texas Gulf Coast on Friday night or early Saturday. Harvey is expected to stall over Texas this weekend, and there remains quite a bit of uncertainty what it will do next. But some models have the storm headed this way, and Hall doesn’t want anyone to be surprised.

“It’s going to be a rainmaker, like it hasn’t rained in the last few months,” he joked. “It will be five to six inches of rain over four to five days, not enough to flood anything. It should start Saturday and rain through Tuesday.”

Hall said the Public Works Department would be giving out sandbags at their yard behind the police station today from noon until 2 p.m. Elderly and disabled residents can pick up sandbags during those times, with proof of residency.

Hall said there would also be three locations where people can fill their own sand bags beginning at 8 a.m., and residents will have to bring their own shovels. The locations are the Avenue B Sports Complex, the Youthbuild Center at the north end of Austin Street, and the Main Street Ballpark.

“We ask people to just fill 10 sandbags, please,” he said.