NATCHEZ — The Miss-Lou will begin to feel the full force of Hurricane Gustav late this afternoon.

The National Weather Service in Jackson has predicted the area will experience sustained winds up to 45 miles per hour with gusts reaching 75 miles per hour.

NWS predicted that Adams County and Concordia Parish will receive the brunt of the storm with the highest winds and the most rainfall — somewhere between four and 10 inches — between 4 and 8 p.m.

The hurricane was last predicted Sunday afternoon to hit Louisiana as a Category 3 storm.

In response to the dangerous weather the area will face, city and county officials have issued a mandatory evacuation for all mobile homes and unstable residences, effective at noon.

Also, Adams County Sheriff Ronny Brown has issued a curfew effective for 6 p.m. today.

The county courthouse and all county offices are closed for the day.

The first shelter in Adams County opened at 6 p.m. Sunday and others were expected to fill rapidly.

Concordia Parish Emergency Director Morris White said none of the shelters in the parish were going to open.

“We’re passing them through to further shelters,” he said.

On Sunday, he said he was working to sandbag some areas in case of flooding.

Ferriday Mayor Glen McGlothin said crews were also sandbagging. Ditches were being cleared of stray limbs, as well.

He said there is a great chance the parish will experience flash floods.

“Concordia Parish is awfully low lying,” he said.

McGlothin urged residents to be safe as the hurricane moves closer.

“If it gets that bad, please stay off the roads, stay home, you’re safer at the house, especially with real bad rain, wind, flying debris,” he said. “Just hunker down and we’ll try to ride this thing out.”

White said he’s expecting high winds and maybe a few tornados, but that’s it.

“We’re not looking for winds over 55 mph, and that’ll just be gusty,” he said.

He said he didn’t think Concordia Parish Sheriff Randy Maxwell would issue a curfew.

“We see no reason for the sheriff to issue a curfew, we’ve had 55 miles per hour wind here before,” he said.

Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland said all city employees are on standby and he’s meeting with his department heads at 8 a.m. to go over plans.

“We feel that we’re pretty well prepared,” he said.

Copeland said he expects some power outages from fallen limbs, but the utility department is going to be working 24 to 48 hours.