VIDEO: Preparing For Tropical Storm Cindy

WINSTON COUNTY, Miss.(WCBI)—With more rain in the forecast, many local people are worried about flooding.

Most of you already have a plan in place for severe weather.

“Tropical Storm Cindy is actually impacting the Gulf Coast of Mississippi today. The path, and that changes as the weather changes, is slated to take it through here in about 36 to 48 hours,”said Winston County EMA Director Buddy King.

Which means there’s not a lot of time.

” First, we make contact with all the department heads of the different agencies, locally, and firm up our state contacts as well. Make sure that our personnel vehicles fueled. There chainsaws are sharpened and ready that we have a good way to get a hold of them when we need them in the middle of the night, “said King.

King says, preparation is essential, especially, with the weather leading up to Cindy’s arrival.

” We’ve had lots of rain the last 10 days or two weeks. Our ground is saturated and our trees are fully leafed and any wind resistance will make them much easier to topple. We are fortunate to have lots of beautiful trees but when the ground gets as wet as it is now, we have problems with trees that become uprooted and fall on power lines and houses,”said King.

Casey Bush is the Columbus Public Works Director. He says the best way to tackle a potential natural disaster is to stay prepared.

“We prepare normally all year. I tell my guys keep the drains clean. We do have a crew that goes around cleaning the drains so we try to stay up on that to make sure those areas stay prepared and clean,”said Bush.

Rainfall in some parts of the state are projected to be as much as 10 to 15 inches. King says residents need to be ready.

“The preparation of the individual citizens in the individual home is of the greatest responsibility. Make arrangements to take care of their situation for the next three days and that’s what we ask. Have enough food and water and cell phone battery to take care of yourself for the next three days. If you have special medication and the citizens of Winston County have been tremendous in responding to those requests,”said King.

Here are some tips from the pros that may keep the water from rising at your house.

Make sure your cut grass doesn’t clog the drains.

Also be sure to rake and bag your leaves.