Evacuees fleeing Hurricane Gustav will prompt shelters to open in central Mississippi — possibly by Sunday— if local American Red Cross officials receive the go-ahead from state and local government.

Volunteers with the organization will staff shelters beginning with those in the northern part of the state, then stagger acceptance of evacuees southward, Vicksburg Area Chapter executive director Beverly Connelly said.

“We will follow the protocol of the state,” Connelly said, confirming six area churches will house Red Cross shelters once Warren County Emergency Management receives directives from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Facilities expected to house shelters are:

• Bovina Baptist Church, U.S. 80, capacity 75.

• Calvary Baptist Church, 2878 Mississippi 27, capacity 75.

• Church of Christ, 3333 N. Frontage Road, capacity 50.

• Eagle Lake Baptist Church, 15481 Mississippi 465, capacity 75.

• First Baptist Church, 1607 Cherry St., capacity 300.

• Hawkins United Methodist Church, 3736 Halls Ferry Road, capacity 150.

All six housed shelters at some point in September 2005, when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the central Gulf Coast in a three week-span. Another shelter at Mayersville Multipurpose Center, 132 Court St., with a capacity of 50, might also be activated.

Another 150 can be housed at Vicksburg Auditorium, which will function as a shelter of “last resort” for an overflow of evacuees, Connelly said.

The Vicksburg chapter of The Salvation Army plans to provide information to evacuees at checkpoints to be determined this weekend, Capt. Patrick Lyons said. Plans for a mass feeding outpost are also in the works.

Some of the shelters will accept evacuees with cats and dogs, Red Cross volunteer coordinator Brad Campbell said. Locals needing to house horses will be directed to Silver Creek Equestrian Club; evacuees with horses will be directed to the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.

Georgia Lynn of the Vicksburg Warren Humane Society said evacuees’ animals will be accepted as capacity allows.

Shelters of last resort for evacuees in need of limited medical care were planned in eight locations in Mississippi. The nearest to Vicksburg will be Hinds Community College’s main campus in Raymond and Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson.

Representatives from the public, nonprofit and business communities met Friday in Vicksburg to coordinate emergency response plans — unlike in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when local officials did not meet until shortly after some 1,100 evacuees were taken from churches to Vicksburg Convention Center three days after the storm made landfall.

Warren County Emergency Management Director Gwen Coleman said her office will be active through the weekend, with other county personnel to be put into emergency mode as the storm’s track dictates. The same goes for any emergency declarations by the county board, Board President Richard George said, adding that Tuesday’s budget adoption hearing will be canceled only “if the roads are impassable.”

Numbers to keep

Entergy

To report power outages — 1-800-ENTERGY Fax line for special needs medical patients in advance of an outage — 1-866-626-5491 City of Vicksburg

Emergency management hotline — 601-801-3500 Recorded information hotline — 601-801-3443 Hearing impaired text hotline — 601-415-9489 Mississippi

Department of Employment Security hotline — 1-888-844-3577 Department of Transportation traffic information hotline — 1-866-521-MDOT (6368)

Gustav strengthened back into a hurricane Friday afternoon and was expected to pass over western Cuba before entering the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. Gustav has been blamed for 71 deaths in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

President Bush declared an emergency in Louisiana, a move that allows the federal government to coordinate disaster relief and provide assistance in storm-affected areas. Gov. Haley Barbour has requested a federal disaster declaration for Mississippi, which begins the process of securing emergency assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency should Gustav impact the Gulf Coast.

Barbour has called for the evacuation of residents along the Katrina-scarred coast, many of whom still live in temporary housing. Evacuations of trailers and mobile homes in Harrison and Hancock counties will start Sunday morning, while those in Jackson County will be cleared on Monday, he said.

“Let me say to the people of Mississippi: This is not a time to panic, but it is a time to get prepared,” Barbour said Friday.

Maj. Gen. Bill Freeman, Mississippi’s top National Guard official, said 1,500 of his troops are heading to the coast today and will knock on trailer doors in Harrison and Hancock counties.

A total of 2,700 government-provided mobile homes and trailers remain occupied along the coast. Barbour’s evacuation order also applies to some of the 2,800 cottages built as alternatives to trailers. Only those in flood zones are subject to mandatory evacuation. Statewide, 4,184 people are still living in temporary housing after Hurricane Katrina.

In Louisiana, evacuations have been announced in St. Charles and St. Bernard parishes and Grand Isle in lower Jefferson Parish. New Orleans officials suggested a full-scale evacuation call could come Sunday. Those among the estimated 310,000 to 340,000 residents who ignore orders to leave accept “all responsibility for themselves and their loved ones,” the city’s emergency preparedness director, Jerry Sneed, has warned.

The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen declared a local emergency Thursday in preparation for whatever Gustav brings to the city. Mayor Laurence Leyens said he planned to meet with department heads Friday afternoon to ensure city vehicles are topped off with gasoline, generators are ready to go and other preparations are in place. Likewise, county road department trucks also had secured alternative fuel supplies in case stations run low.

Gas prices in Vicksburg have risen about 8 cents since Tuesday and were, at most stations Friday evening, $3.60 a gallon.

“We had coincidentally planned a bi-annual exercise for emergency management for this weekend, so we should be prepared,” he said. “We’re going to treat it as if it’s coming to see if we have any deficiencies in our model.”

Leyens said all hotel rooms in Vicksburg are booked, and the municipal airport has been booked with arrivals.

“The impact is already occurring,” he said. “As I understand it, the grocery stores are already starting to have runs on some products, too.”

City officials have set up a recorded information line offering general information on shelters and storm information, at 601-801-3443. Hearing impaired residents can access it via text message at 601-415-9489.

Coleman stressed patience and caution as it relates to the local response.

“We are expecting evacuees,” Coleman told emergency planning committee members and others. “Locals need to understand they need to be self-sufficient for about 72 hours.”

However, locals requiring a quick reconnect of their electricity because of medical conditions if their electricity goes out from storm-related wind and rain may fax a physician’s statement on that physician’s official letterhead to Entergy Mississippi at 1-866-626-5491.

Entergy spokesman Ashley Howard said the fax must contain five things: patient’s name, address, type of illness, type of equipment used and the account number off the patient’s monthly electric bill.

Howard stressed such customers need to be on such a priority list before their electricity goes out so crews can get to them faster.

Entergy personnel will be mobilized by late Sunday from north Mississippi, Arkansas and Georgia to work on power lines if electricity is cut, Vicksburg area spokesman Don Arnold said.

Arnold stressed caution to those flooding area stores to purchase backup generators. Those attempting to use them must use as directed.

As for preparations by Vicksburg Video, a cable television and Internet service provider to about 8,500 customers in Vicksburg, backup generators and trucks were fueled and ready to go, general manager Beau Balch said.

“Naturally, when (Entergy) goes down, we go down,” Balch said, adding the company will work to resume service as quickly as possible.