The Mississippi State Department of Health has announced several closures ahead of severe weather expected from Hurricane Francine.
On Wednesday, county health departments across the southern portion of the state will be closed for either part of or the entire day. The following schedule was released Tuesday night by the MSDH:
- District 7: County health departments in Pike and Walthall counties will be closed all day. Those in Adams, Amite, Franklin, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lincoln, and Wilkinson counties will close at noon.
- District 8: County health departments in Marion, Lamar, Jefferson Davis, and Covington counties will close at noon. The Forrest County location will close at 1 p.m.
- District 9: County health departments in Pearl River and Hancock counties will be closed all day. Those in Harrison and Jackson counties will close at noon while the Stone County location will close at 2 p.m.
MSDH noted that the status of the aforementioned and other county health departments could be changed based on the weather.
Francine, which strengthened from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane on Tuesday evening, is forecast to make landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday. The storm is expected to bring significant flooding, dangerous storm surge, and damaging winds to other portions of the U.S. Gulf Coast, including Mississippi.
