All eyes are on Isaac this morning as forecasters and millions of residents in his path watch and wait.

Natural disasters come in two varieties, the kinds that come without warning — tornadoes, earthquakes and the like — and the kinds that, through the use of modern technology, come with a bit of a heads-up.

Isaac is in the latter camp. Fortunately, we’ve been given a heads-up on his probable path. But storm forecasting isn’t an exact science in the best of all scenarios and with Isaac, all of the best forecasting technology has yet to produce a definitive path projection.

By Monday afternoon the various computer models showed landfall predictions varied by a distance of several hundred miles.

What we do know, however, is that the storm will come ashore somewhere in the northern Gulf of Mexico and when and where it does, hundreds of thousands of people will be in Isaac’s path.

If the storm impacts the Natchez area, we feel comfortable knowing that our area is as prepared as it can be. We saw first hand the human impact of Katrina, through the stories and lives of those people who sought shelter from the storm in our area in 2005.

More recently in 2008, our area managed to get some first-hand experience when Hurricane Gustav stormed into our area and knocked power out to the region.

We know how to do this; we’ve had a little practice.

Our residents know how to be calm, resourceful and work together should the weather cause damage to our area.

Please plan for the worst and pray for the best, work your personal preparedness plans, stay calm and get ready to ride Isaac out — should he ultimately visit us.

Stay tuned to the newspaper and its online site, natchezdemocrat.com for up-to-the-minute coverage.