NATCHEZ — An overflowing shopping cart — already filled with three packs of water bottles — made its way down the Walmart aisles Sunday as Yvonne Brown looked for the last piece for her Tropical Storm Isaac preparation kit.

“I need a pack of the smaller water bottles for my grandkids,” Brown said reaching up to the top shelf. “They don’t drink the whole thing if it’s in the big bottles, so they need the small ones.”

Brown, a Jonesville resident, admitted she may have gone a little overboard with her preparations, but also said she wasn’t about to put anything back on the shelves.

“I’d rather have everything I need now, than not have it and need it later,” Brown said. “Everything is going to get used anyway.”

On Sunday, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency as officials were preparing for tropical storm winds to begin hitting the coast as early as Monday night and lasting into Wednesday.

Adams County Emergency Management Director Stan Owens did not return repeated phone calls Sunday for updates on what locals should do do prepare.

Weather forecasters told Bryant and the state Emergency Operations Center Sunday that they expect Isaac to strengthen into a hurricane.

In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal and St. Charles Parish officials ordered evacuation Sunday for the parish’s 53,000 residents as the storm’s path moved west, threatening harsh winds and downpours.

Isaac was expected to hit land as a strong Category 2 hurricane late Tuesday or early Wednesday, the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning Sunday for a large swath of the northern Gulf Coast from east of Morgan City, La. — which includes the New Orleans area — to Destin, Fla. A Category 2 hurricane has sustained winds of between 96 and 110 mph.

Growing up in Jonesville, Brown said she’s no amateur to the affects storms can have on the Miss-Lou, which is why she takes as many precautions as possible.

“I remember during Katrina, it flooded Jonesville real bad, and we didn’t have electricity for about five days,” Brown said. “I’ve been hearing (Isaac) is going to hit New Orleans bad, so I’m getting ready.”

Brown said her children and grandchildren, who live in Baton Rouge, had already planned to make a visit this weekend, but once news of Isaac came those plans were moved ahead of schedule.

“I talked to my son, and he said, ‘Well it looks like we’ll be there a little earlier than we thought,’” Brown said. “They’ll all come stay with me and, hopefully, get out the storm’s way.”

Other residents preparing for the storm had different essential items on their minds.

Robert Dunn of Lake Mary filled three containers — and his Toyota truck — to the brim with gas Sunday hoping it was enough to get them through whatever the storm brought their way.

“I bought a generator for the house when Hurricane Gustav came through, but we haven’t had to use it since then,” Dunn said. “Since we live so far out of town, we try to keep as much stuff on hand as we can for situations like this.

“And if we don’t use it now, we’ll use it eventually.”

Dunn said he wasn’t sure how bad the conditions would get in Woodville, but that he was more worried about his daughter who lives in Pensacola, Fla.

“I talked to her today and she said they were sticking it out there,” Dunn said. “Hopefully it won’t get too bad down there.

“It seems to be changing its mind every day on where it’s headed.”