Mississippi's coastal counties are experiencing storm surges as Hurricane Sally continues to travel towards shore, slowly. The hurricane has redirected further east than experts originally expected, but Mississippi will still receive heavy rainfall over the next 24-48 hours. Governor Tate Reeves says coastal counties have already started to see storm surges which could reach upwards of 3 feet. "And in the very southeasternmost part of Jackson County, as much as 15 inches of rain," says Reeves. "This storm is moving very, very slowly, and so that tends to make us very concerned about the amount of rainfall that we may get to the immediate east of wherever it makes landfall."
Mississippi has prepared 120 thousand sandbags and 25 hundred tarps for distribution throughout the gulf coast, and the national guard is prepared to assist. Greg Michel, Director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, says the state will respond wherever needed. "Our resources are set such that we could move them to the west or the east depending on what the storm track did, and in this case, if the storm continues to go to the east, then we are prepared also to send resources to assist with Alabama," says Michel.
More than 100 people are in local emergency shelters waiting out the storm.
