With nine days to go until the expected crest of the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, the city’s infrastructure is safe, interim public works director Garnet Van Norman said this morning.

“We’re not expecting anything to affect our natural gas pipes, sanitation pipes or our water wells,” he said. “Right now, we’re operating as normal. As far as utilities, water is fine, waste water is fine, natural gas is fine. Utilities will run until we can’t run it anymore.”

He said city utilities will continue to be turned off in areas affected by flood water.

As a precautionary measure, sandbags were placed Monday at the city’s natural gas stations at the Port of Vicksburg and on Rifle Range Road and Smokey Lane, a low-lying area prone to flash flooding.

Van Norman said an emergency backup plan is in place to switch the city’s natural gas supply in case of flooding.

“We’ve already made arrangements with the companies,” he said. “If we need to, we’ll switch over to Mississippi Valley Gas from Gulf South. We’ll turn off the regular stations and turn on the North Washington Street station. It’s just another source the city can buy from.”

In the Vicksburg area, the National Weather Service is forecasting a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms Thursday and Friday. Chances are reduced to 20 percent and 30 percent Saturday and Sunday.

The city’s 16 water wells and main water lines running from the port and supplying at least 10,000 customers also are safe, Van Norman said.

“Some of our water wells are in the flood plains, but they are all above the flood,” he said. “We’re not expecting the flood to affect that.”