South Mississippi braces for winds, rain from Gordon

It’s a familiar situation for the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but not necessarily a welcome one.

Coast residents began making preparations this week as Tropical Storm Gordon moved across the Florida Keys, hitting the warm water of the Gulf Of Mexico and prompting hurricane warnings for the coastal counties of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson.

On Tuesday, hurricane sirens sounded in Biloxi as a reminder to be prepared for the approaching storm, which could be upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane.

Phil Grigsby, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in New Orleans, said Gordon had strengthened by daybreak Tuesday.

“The only real change that happened Monday night was that the storm strengthened a bit and it now has winds of about 60 mph,” he said. “It continues to move to the north-northwest.”

Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency for the three coastal counties late Monday evening.

Storm surge and flood warnings remain

Grigsby said the storm surge warning did not change overnight.

“The surge could be 3-5 feet from Harrison County to Jackson County,” he said. “It will be less in Hancock County because it should be to the west of the storm’s center.”

Harrison County Emergency Management Director Rupert Lacy urged Coast residents to take the storm surge warning seriously.

“A storm surge warning means there is a danger of life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline, in the indicated locations,” Lacy said.

A flood warning is also in effect for rivers along the Coast including the Wolf River, Tchoutacabouffa River and Biloxi River.

The Wolf River is expected to crest at 8.5 feet Wednesday morning, and the Tchoutacabouffa River is expected to crest at 9 feet.

The Biloxi River is expected to crest at 15 feet on Wednesday.

“There could be some minor flooding along the Wolf, Biloxi and Tchoutacabouffa rivers for the next few days,” Grigsby said.

Lots of rain and wind

Whether or not Tropical Storm Gordon becomes a Category 1 hurricane when it makes landfall, it is still expected to dump a lot of rain on an already saturated South Mississippi.

“There could be 7-8 inches of rainfall Tuesday night and Wednesday and maybe even some locally higher areas of 10-12 inches,” he said. “We also have a chance of feeder bands developing Wednesday morning and there’s an 80 percent chance of rain on Wednesday.”

He said the storm should be a familiar one to the Coast.

“It has some potential to put some water over Highway 90,” Grigsby said. “This storm is very similar to Hurricane Nate that hit the Coast last October.”

Winds will increase, Grigsby said, sometime late Tuesday afternoon.

“The winds will gradually increase from 30-40 mph to 50 and above as the storm gets closer to landfall,” he said. “We can expect to see average winds at 40-60 mph with some gusts of 70-80 mph.”

The storm is expected to make landfall sometime after 9 p.m. on Tuesday.