NATCHEZ &8212; A year after Hurricane Katrina, the Atlantic Ocean is active again.

If a similar storm hit today, officials said, the Miss-Lou would respond as they did in the past.

Official plans

Emergency response directors on both sides of the river said they would follow plans already in place and would rely on volunteer-based groups to provide shelters.

Adams County Civil Defense Director George Souderes said the county would follow the plan they have had in place for 10 years.

The plan has been under review recently by a consulting group hired by the United Way. Although they said the plan was outdated and lacked vital details, Souderes said the plan was completely functional.

With an active ocean, Souderes said he and other first-responders, like police, fire departments and the local Red Cross chapter, kept in touch.

&8220;If it hits the Gulf, we start talking a lot more to (the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency), go through some what-ifs,&8221; Souderes said. &8220;Depending upon where in the Gulf it hits, we call for a local hurricane briefing, call in emergency response agencies, schools, etc. We tell them how they need to prepare, we talk to them about the Adams County emergency response plan.

&8220;They should also be looking at in-house department procedures, and how they should start gearing up 72 hours out or longer.&8221;

Souderes said the public had a role to play, too. They should know the difference between a watch and a warning, know the safest place in a particular building and stock up on supplies like batteries, medicine and shelf-stable foods.

&8220;We normally tell people they may need to go five days without electricity,&8221; Souderes said. &8220;It used to be three days, but with Katrina, we saw that extended in our area. In some areas of the county, people went a couple weeks or so.&8221;

Morris White, director of Concordia Parish&8217;s office of homeland security, said if another big storm hit, response would look much the same as it did with Katrina.

&8220;We would do the same thing as we would do for tornadoes,&8221; White said. &8220;We would have people on standby, set up medical systems, have shelters on standby, and the emergency departments would make an operations center.&8221;

White said they would follow the fairly new parish emergency response plan as a guideline and adapt if needed.

&8220;Different things happen in different circumstances, and we have to adjust for the circumstances,&8221; he said.

Shelters from the storm

The Adams County chapter of the Red Cross and faith-based organizations would take care of sheltering people if the area had another influx of evacuees, Souderes said.

The Red Cross chapter has eight shelters they are prepared to open as soon as they get orders, Executive Director John Goodrich said.

&8220;We&8217;ve got blankets and cots and paper goods to supply those shelters for the first three days,&8221; Goodrich said. &8220;The only thing we really need to open shelters are the consumables we need to feed people. The school system has some products, and we have contracts with food distributors in the area.&8221;

Other supplies could come from the national Red Cross, he said.

They could house about 2,000 people right now, he said. They were at full capacity last year and opened additional shelters as they were needed.

The biggest shortage is volunteers to man the shelters once they open, he said.

Other volunteer agencies, like the United Way of the Greater Miss-Lou, would be able to help should another hurricane hit.

&8220;We would play the same role as we did last year,&8221; Executive Director Kathy Stephens said. &8220;We would handle distribution and donation of goods and coordination of our volunteers to United Way agencies.&8221;

Even though she said she is worried the county does not have an up-to-date disaster plan, in some ways the area is better off if a hurricane hit again, she said.

&8220;We had never been through a disaster of this magnitude before,&8221; Stephens said. &8220;We&8217;re all familiar with what everyone does and how to react. I think we need to take this opportunity to not hit the snooze alarm. We need to finish what we started &8212; plan and learning to meet and work together.&8221;