[Read more on why rainfall is the biggest threat.]

The mayor said he spent much of Thursday getting sandbags to residents and trying to keep them calm. On Friday morning, the storm was about 100 miles from shore and moving slowly toward the coast before its expected landfall on Saturday morning, when it is also predicted to become a hurricane. Homeowners said they know they have been lucky in recent years, as hurricanes like Katrina in 2005 and Gustav and Ike in 2008 passed Morgan City by without much damage.

Jo Ann Blanchard runs two restaurants, a salon and an event center that all sit directly across the street from the levees along the Atchafalaya River.

“When you go out my door, you’re looking right at the sea wall,” she said from inside Cafe JoJo’s.

Ms. Blanchard said she restocked before the summer so she could keep serving seafood and pasta during hurricane season. She plans to stay in the restaurant as the storm comes ashore.

“We just sit here and wait, and when it comes, it comes,” she said. “Sandbag it, hunker down and wait for the river to rise.”