Jackson County Office of Emergency Services prepare for tropical system
JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. (WXXV)- The Jackson County Office of Emergency Services is encouraging residents to stay weather aware as a tropical system moves through the Gulf.
While significant strengthening isn’t expected right now, officials say the system could still bring flooding.
WXXV News 25’s Everett Ganier Jr. has more on how the county is helping residents prepare.
Jackson County Emergency Services Director Earl Etheridge said, “In events of tropical depression number two which is slated Wednesday morning to pass south of the Mississippi Coast on its way towards the Louisiana peninsula, what we are looking at is we’re opening up sandbag locations throughout the county in conjunction with the cities. The county did declare a state of emergency today. The cities are in the process of doing that for their cities. Our sandbag locations should be up and operational this afternoon. We are also looking at the possibility of some minor storm surge, maybe two to four feet along the Mississippi Coast and unless the rain wraps around the north side of the storm, we’re not really looking for a rain event with this. We’re looking more for probably 30 to 40 mph winds and the possibility of some minor storm surge.”
The Jackson County Office of Emergency is keeping a close eye on a tropical system as it tracks through the Gulf.
As a precaution, Jackson County has opened self-service sandbag locations for residents who want to protect their homes ahead of any potential rain.
Emergency officials encourage anyone living in flood-prone areas to take advantage of the sandbag sites and continue monitoring the latest forecasts as conditions could change. “Basically, right now what everyone should be doing, if you got any loose items around your home, you might want to secure them. If you got boats docked somewhere your gonna want to make sure that you got all of your lines secured. You want to make sure that you keep following the news and weather information in case the storm for some reason changes track or decides to intensify even more.”
The Jackson County Office of Emergency Services says it will continue to track the tropical system and provide updates if needed.
