Lauderdale Co. Emergency Management Agency Monitors Tropical Storms Marco And Laura

Tonight, as Tropical Storms Marco and Laura are making their way towards to Gulf Coast, it is unknown the impact the severe weather will have on Lauderdale County.

The Lauderdale County Emergency Management Agency is currently tracking both tropical storms Marco and Laura, and LEMA Director Odie Barrett shared that he doesn’t anticipate Lauderdale County experiencing impact from Tropical Storm Marco, but is heavily monitoring Tropical Storm Laura.

LEMA is still unsure of the weather conditions Laura will bring to the county, but is advising residents to go ahead and prepare their emergency storm kits.

“Until tomorrow afternoon, until we start seeing exactly what Laura is going to do, we’re not really sure exactly how much of a kick we’re going to take, but we can’t take any of that for granted. We have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. You know, there’s things we can do to stay on top of the need to prepare for a hurricane, we don’t need to wait until it hits to start worrying about it,” said Odie Barrett, LEMA Director.

He also advises residents to have a shelter plan in place, warning of the possible weather the tropical storms could bring to Lauderdale County.

“You know, we may not get the hurricane, but we could get some tornadoes that form off of the land that come along with these hurricanes, and that could cause us to go into a weather situation, where we may have to take addition shelter out side of a mobile home, and that needs to be discussed with your friends and family, how instead of waiting until the day of, because Lauderdale county, not having a public shelter, we need to make sure we’ve got those plans already established,” said Barrett.

The Lauderdale County Emergency Management Agency advises residents to sign up for alerts sent by LEMA through NIXLE for notifications regarding severe weather, and other community-based information. To sign up, text your zip-code to 888-777.