Communities and utility services in Southwest Mississippi areincreasing their level of alert as Tropical Storm Gustav slowlytreks toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Copiah County Civil Defense Director Randle Drane said CopiahCounty officials on Thursday signed a proclamation of the existenceof a local emergency that is set to take effect Sunday at 6a.m.

Drane said the declaration of emergency would allow county andemergency personnel to quickly respond to disaster situationswithout being hindered by normal procedures and regulations.

“This will allow us to make decisions without having to worryabout the law on purchasing, and it also allows county crews totake care of things that under normal situations they wouldn’t beable to take care of,” he said.

In the event of a mass power outage, Drane said the county isalso setting up distribution points to accommodate the FederalEmergency Management Agency in the distribution of food and water.The main distribution point will be at the multi-purpose facilityin Gallman, while two sub points will be located at Georgetown andthe Allen Volunteer Fire Department on Highway 28.

Drane pointed out that FEMA will no longer supply bags ofice.

“We suggest that people go ahead and put some jugs of water inthe freezer and do whatever they can to save up some ice,” he said.”The county is looking at contracting with someone to get some ice,but there’s no guarantee that will happen.”

The county is also preparing to house up to 2,000 evacuees fromthe coast who may arrive via Interstate 55 – one of the primarycoastal evacuation routes. Drane said there are 15 sheltersdispersed around the county, with five backup shelters ready tocome online if needed.

Drane said about 150 coastal residents have already called andreserved space in two of the 15 shelters, effectively filling themup and bringing the number down to 13. Drane said the othershelters on standby have also received calls.

With the signing of the state of emergency proclamationThursday, all county employees and emergency personnel were placedon standby.

Drane said if Gustav hits the county as hard as HurricaneKatrina in 2005, county officials may consider the enforcement of acurfew to keep onlookers out of the way of emergency personnel.

For more information on Gustav preparations in Copiah County,interested people may contact Drane’s office at 601-894-1658.

Lawrence County is considering the same options. EmergencyManagement Director Robert Patterson released a statement Thursdaysaying a curfew of 9 p.m. would go into effect if an emergency isdeclared in that county.

Lawrence County will have distribution points in place atvolunteer fire departments, Main Street in front of city hall inNew Hebron, the new fire station in Silver Creek and at theLawrence County High School. Times will be from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. asmanpower allows.

For more information on Lawrence County’s emergencypreparations, interested people may contact Patterson at theMonticello Volunteer Fire Department at 601-587-2721.

Local utilities are also placing their resources on standby.Magnolia Electric Power Association Member Services Director LucyShell said the company is in the process of implementing itsemergency restoration plan, which increases the number of powercrews on standby and increases communication with additionalcontract crews so that power may be restored as quickly as possibleif knocked out.

“We can get a large amount of manpower in here,” Shell said.”During Hurricane Katrina, we pulled in 601 contractors to go withour own staff of 100. We have a communications line where we canget as many people in here as needed.”

During Katrina, Shell said the company’s entire grid of 28,200meters was knocked out for 21 days. The emergency restoration planwas developed to improve upon that time.

Shell said Magnolia has already booked hotel rooms toaccommodate additional contract crews if they are needed to work ondamage to any section of the company’s more than 4,000 miles ofline in six counties.

Southwest Mississippi Electric Power Association employees arealso gearing up with extra supplies and manpower in the event thattheir 2,500 employees lose power.

Personnel and Public Relations Coordinator Azalea Knight saidall of the company’s 88 employees are on standby, and additionalcontract crews have been contacted to oversee the 4,300 miles ofline in nine counties.

Knight said the company could call upon as many as 250 workers,and has already begun to stockpile supplies that would be needed tomake repairs.

“We’re in wait mode,” she said. “We have made sure that we haveas much supplies as we can store like wire, poles and any materialwe would need to make any repairs if Gustav makes landfall.”

Knight said the company lost its entire gird during Katrina andtook 14 days to restore power.