Emergency officials explain how you can stay safe from floods
HOUSTON, Miss. (WCBI) The city of Houston is expected to get nearly two inches of rain from Hurricane Francine, Houston Fire Chief Jonathan Blankenship said his department is preparing for the worst.
“We will have our guys ready, we will have our life jackets, which is something that a lot of people do not think about, but we do carry those. We will have rope equipment that will be available as well. We will also block off streets, if necessary,” said Blankenship.
It’s been a while since north Mississippi has seen heavy rainfall, and that can lead to trees falling over.
Chickasaw Count Emergency Management Director Linda Griffin said there a few things you should have on standby, just in case you are in a black out
“People need to make sure their cell phones are charged,” said Griffin.
“Since we have not had power outages in a while, people need to make sure they know where their flashlights are because if you have to get up in the middle of the night, the last thing you want to do is fall in the dark, and not have any lights,” said Griffin.
While there are a lot of things you should do when preparing for severe weather, Griffin says there are also some things you should not do
“The main thing is to not go and venture out, everybody wants to go look and see what is going on in the county when we do have with storm damage, and that makes it a lot more dangerous especially for emergency vehicles. When people are out just sight-seeing, that can be a problem to emergency vehicles,” said Griffin.
“If you do have a tree down in your yard, do not go out especially if it is dark, because of possible power lines down. That is a big danger that people do not realize,” said Griffin.
Griffin also said you should have extra batteries for your flashlights in case of an extended power outage, and to remember that you should not call 9-1-1 to report power outages.
