EMA departments across the Wiregrass prepare for rounds of severe weather

The Houston County EMA and Coffee County EMA are watching two rounds of severe weather for Wednesday night.

They say they have been watching this for several days and earlier today they brought in all of the emergency personnel to make sure they are ready to respond in case there’s damage.

Houston County EMA Director Mark Powell says the tone of this severe weather from the national weather is similar to the Cottonwood tornado event. Coffee County EMA Director James Brown said they are concerned with high winds and excessive amounts of rainfall.

In fact, Houston County is still reeling from that severe weather event repairing roads and severe weather is dreadful for a historically black community, Shiloh, in Elba. They have been going through a six-year flooding crisis.

“Because I’m looking at the tone like several inches of rainfall, 7 inches of rain, over and over again, and even looking at the western part of our area in Louisiana area the storms there are severe, so I believe its going to be a real event to prepare for,” Mark Powell said about Houston County.

“When we get 4-7 inches of rain in a very short amount of time we will get some of that flash flooding so we are worried about that with people on the roads,” Brown said.

“I been telling my neighbor Willie you need to make plans don’t try to stay at home all the water from us will go down to him and he’s going to be stuck in the house our homes are sinking,” Timothy Williams said.

Powell and Brown say to make sure you stay tuned to local news, download weather apps, and follow social media as things can change fast.

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