The 2010 Louisiana Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday takes place on Saturday, May 29 and Sunday, May 30. During these two days, shoppers can get ready for the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season, which begins on June 1, by purchasing emergency supplies free from the four-percent state sales tax.
The tax holiday exempts from the state sales tax the first $1,500 of the sales price of each of the following items:

• Self-powered light sources such as flashlights and candles
• Portable self-powered radios, two-way radios and weather-band radios
• Tarpaulins or other flexible waterproof sheeting
• Ground anchor systems or tie-down kits
• Gas or diesel fuel tanks
• Batteries – AAA, AA, C, D, 6-volt or 9-volt (automobile batteries and boat batteries are not eligible)
• Cellular phone batteries and chargers
• Non-electric food storage coolers
• Portable generators
• Storm shutter devices – Materials and products manufactured, rated and marketed specifically for the purposes of preventing window damage from storms (La. R.S. 47:305.58)
• Carbon monoxide detectors
• Blue ice products

Local sales taxes still apply unless local taxing authorities have specifically exempted them.

Items purchased at airports, convenience stores, entertainment complexes, or at hotels or other public lodging establishments are not eligible for a tax exemption under the Louisiana Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday.

For more information, visit the 2010 Louisiana Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday page atwww.revenue.louisiana.gov.

Mayor Melvin “Kip” Holden and the Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness will welcome NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter aircraft to Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport on April 28 to help raise awareness about the start of hurricane season.

The P-3 aircraft flies missions to monitor storm conditions and to collect data for hurricane research.  During a typical mission, the turboprop aircraft must slice through the eyewall of a hurricane, buffeted by winds, rain, and hail before entering the relative calm of the storm’s eye. The plane uses special state-of-the-art equipment to probe every wind and pressure change, repeating the grueling experience again and again during the course of a typical 10-hour mission

“We welcome the Hurricane Hunter crew, the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service to Baton Rouge to share their expertise with our team of emergency responders as we prepare for another hurricane season,” Mayor Holden said. “The exciting thing about this aircraft is that it flies low altitude missions directly into the eye of the storm to provide us with critical data about the intensity and structure of a storm.  We are very fortunate to host this team of national experts as we prepare for what they have indicated will be a busy hurricane season.”

The Hurricane Hunter’s daylong visit to Metropolitan Airport on April 28 will begin with a 10 a.m. press conference hosted by Mayor-President Melvin “Kip” Holden and JoAnne Moreau, director of the Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. Several hurricane experts will be on hand to answer questions, including; Ken Graham, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service Office in Slidell; Bill Proenza, director of the National Weather Service’s Southern Region; and Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center. The Hurricane Hunter’s flight crew will also be available.

At 1 p.m., Graham, Proenza and Read will conduct a hurricane briefing for state and local emergency management officials, representatives from private industry, and the media. A tour of the Hurricane Hunter aircraft will follow the briefing.

Between 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., student groups from local schools will be touring the aircraft.  The school tours are by invitation only. The general public will have an opportunity to tour the Hurricane Hunter from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Members of the media that want to make special arrangements for interviews with NOAA/NWS officials, contact Frank Revitte at the Slidell National Weather Service Office at 985-649-0357.

Hurricane Ida has moved into the Southern Gulf of Mexico and is currently a category 2 storm. Top winds were near 100mph and the storm was located around 500 miles south/southeast of the Mississippi River earlier Sunday afternoon.  Ida is moving north/northwest at 10mph. An upper level disturbance over Texas should keep Ida on a northbound course through Monday. The storm could be nearing the northern Gulf of Mexico by Monday evening, somewhere south of Mobile Bay in Alabama.

Hurricane force winds could be felt from the coast of Louisiana all the way east to the Florida Panhandle starting Monday afternoon on through Tuesday Morning. A hurricane watch has been issued from Grand Isle, Louisiana to Mexico Beach, Florida.

Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency for the state earlier today. The Louisiana National Guard, Louisiana State Police and  Wildlife and Fisheries agencies have been placed on alert.