Mississippi Coast should prepare for Cristobal as if it were a Category 5 hurricane

2020 was supposed to be our year.

South Mississippi was ready to start fresh after a devastating 2019. Biloxi police officer Robert “Mac” McKeithen was ambushed, shot and killed in front of the police station.

The Army Corps of Engineers opened the Bonnet Carré Spillway for a record amount of time, leaving the Coast’s seafood industry to pick up the pieces after oyster beds were destroyed and dolphins perished.

And let’s not forget about algae bloom that invaded our waters, closing Mississippi Coast beaches in the height of tourism season.

It felt like 2019 was the rock bottom, meaning we could only go up from there.

2020 proved us wrong.

South Mississippi could see winds, heavy rains and flooding as early as Sunday in the first week of hurricane season. Cristobal made a north turn in the Gulf of Mexico Friday morning and is expected to strengthen back into a tropical storm over the weekend before making landfall along the Louisiana Coast.

The Coast is under a tropical storm watch, and we’ll be on the east side of the storm, which is never good.

And while a storm looms hundreds of miles away, the Coast is still dealing with the coronavirus pandemic that by May 4 has killed nearly 800 Mississippians. The health department recently released a list of nursing homes with coronavirus outbreaks, and state officials have warned that it’s not over yet.

A lot is being thrown our way, but we want to remind you that tropical storms are nothing to ignore. They can be dangerous — even deadly — and the Coast should prepare for Cristobal as if the storm were a Category 5 hurricane.

• Check out this hurricane preparedness tips from MEMA.
• Nail down your plans. Decide if you’ll stay at home, leave the Coast or evacuate to a shelter.
• Keep an eye on the storm. Check back to SunHerald.com for the latest updates, including Cristobal track information and closings and cancellations.
• Stock up and make sure you have everything you need if you’re staying. You should have least 72 hours worth of non-perishable food, water and essentials for you and your family.
• If you’re a tropical weather veteran, check on your neighbors and help if they need it.

Cristobal may be another nuisance in an already chaotic year, but we can’t count the storm out. And if Katrina has taught us anything, it’s that the South Mississippi and its residents are resilient and will come back stronger and better than ever.

This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 11:21 AM.