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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Hurricane Gustav National Weather Service

Mississippi residents woke up today to tornado watches and warnings swirling around the state, especially in central Mississippi, in the aftermatch of Hurricane Gustav. As we return to work and school, the JFP’s best advice is to listen to Mississippi Public Broadcasting, which is live with constant updates, as it has been all weekend. Also, Gov. Haley Barbour is cautioning evacuees not to try to return to the Coast until Wednesday, even some highways down there are starting to re-open.

You can listen to MPB online here. You can watch Barbour’s Monday evening press conference here.

Feel free to post any need-to-know information below.

Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.