Pass Christian officials prepare for storms

In West Harrison County, Pass Christian city leaders and first responders have been busy preparing for both storms.

A slight uptick in the wind and a few slow moving clouds set the scene Monday in Pass Christian as the entire Coast breathed a sigh of relief, at least a temporary one, after dodging the path of Marco.

But Pass Christian Fire Chief Dwight Gordon, who also serves as the city’s emergency management director, knows Laura is just around the corner and it’s still all hands on deck for city crews and first responders. “We looked at it as preparing for one event even though it’s two separate storms. We wanted to get ready for the first one. We’re going to keep the preparation in place as far as equipment moved, the harbor evacuated and everything else until we see it’s safe to resume normal operations, which is what we expect from the first storm through the end of the second projected storm.”

The Pass Christian Harbor was also pretty busy this weekend as people moved their boats. There are a few vessels that still remain, but city leaders are hoping these boats will be moved sooner rather than later. “We have a mandatory evacuation order in place now. We want you to move your boat. The first thing we are concerned about is life safety. We don’t want to endanger anybody’s life, those on boats or the lives of our first responders’ lives that may try to get to them. The second thing is we want to look out for the city’s property and the personal property, your boat, or anything that’s on your boat. We want to look out for that. Safer harbor in the back waters would be better than sitting out there in the harbor.”

There’s still time and plenty of sand to protect your home or business at the city’s public works building at 200 N. West Street.