NATCHEZ — In a fit of déj vu, city and county officials gathered once more in the Emergency Operations Center Thursday to examine yet another hurricane in the Gulf.

Hurricane Ike, which is projected to make landfall on the upper Texas coast, took a slight turn north, shifting its bands closer to Southwest Mississippi.

Before a morning conference call with the National Weather Service, Stan Owens, Adams County Emergency Management Director, said the county is in the 30 percent possibility of experiencing tropical storm force winds.

This is mainly in part to Ike being a very large storm with tropical storm force winds extending 300 miles from its center.

Ike is nearly as large as Hurricane Katrina was but due to its size, its having difficulty equalling Katrina’s strength.

Right now the storm is a Category 2 but is expected to reach Category 3 strength with 120 miles per hour winds when it makes landfall.

It is also following almost the exact same path as Hurricane Rita.

Adams County Chapter of the Red Cross Chapter Manager Angie Brown said Rita caused more damage to Adams County than Katrina did.

Currently, there is a tropical storm warning for the coasts of Mississippi and Louisiana.

Adams County could see wind gusts of 30 to 45 miles per hour.

Entergy Customer Service Manager Stephen Caruthers said receiving those high winds could be problematic.

“If we stay at the 20 mile per hour winds, we’ll survive,” Caruthers said.

After Gustav’s high winds, trees in Adams County are in a weakened state and still, with the occasional gust of wind, limbs and branches are falling.

And not just that, but more trees could fall, as well.

“If it goes as predicted with those type winds with the ground still saturated, I’m looking for public works to have another busy weekend,” Public Works Director Eric Smith said.

National Weather Service, Jackson, Meteorologist Ed Agre said there is a good chance more trees will fall.

“With all the rain we’ve had, the soil is still pretty soggy and those kinds of winds, 40 to 45 miles per hour, could knock over some pretty good sized trees,” he said.

A wind advisory has been issued for the area.

Naturally, fallen limbs and trees could result in loss of power.

Adams County may begin to see effects of the storm — wind and rain — as early as Friday evening.

Of course, if Ike turns anymore east, the Southwest Mississippi will experience more extreme winds and rain.

Agre said there’s not much of a possibility of Ike shifting dramatically.

“It’s pretty much settled on track just to the southwest of Houston,” he said. “We’re not really seeing any indications that it would turn farther toward the north.”

But once it makes landfall, it will take a sharp northeastern turn and likely dump rain on the area for a while.

With storms this large, it takes a while for them to weaken post-landfall.

It could also merge with a cold front that will be moving through the area in the next few days, which could cause severe storms.

Tornadoes are likely, as well.

There is a possibility that fallen debris not yet cleaned up could become projectiles in the event of tornadoes, Smith said.