Jun. 25--PICAYUNE -- The City of Picayune is as prepared for hurricanes as it has ever been, Fire Chief Keith Brown told local business owners at a meeting at City Hall Wednesday morning. Picayune's new City Hall will be the Emergency Operations Center for the city in case of catastrophes, including hurricanes.

Brown, who also is the city's emergency manager, gave the business owners some information on the city's preparations using a power point presentation, then urged the business owners to prepare for a hurricane, if they haven't already. He also asked those who came to the meeting to bring up any questions they had so that the city could deal with them, if they were problems that fell in his purview.

"The quicker we can get you guys back operating, the easier it is on us," Brown said.

Businesses being open to meet residents' needs gives a sense of normalcy to the public, which has a calming effect, he said.

He told the business owners that the key to success in dealing with the public following a catastrophe is making public as much information as possible and said wanted to improve lines of communications with them. Brown asked the business owners and others present to sign in and list an emergency telephone number and an e-mail address so he may send them information in case of any catastrophe.

He said that just prior to, during and following a storm, information will be posted on the city's Web site and that it also will be disseminated to the Picayune Item and WRJW. Also, Brown said that New Orleans television station WWL has told him that the station will have a reporter at the city's Emergency Operations Center during and following the landfall of a hurricane in the area and that information also will be available there.

Brown reiterated to the group that the Mississippi Department of Transportation will post information relating to contraflow, once it's implemented, on Twitter so that travelers and others can access that information on their cell phones or computers.

"Contraflow affects us all. Hopefully, you are thinking about that," Brown said.

He said that contraflow will now end at mile marker 55 near Purvis, which is about 30 miles north of where it ended last year, hopefully reducing some of the pressure on Picayune.

"Is it still going to back up? Yeah. Are we still going to be overwhelmed? Yeah," Brown said

"We can't close the exits. Only the state can do that," the fire chief and emergency manager said.

However, he said the city has arranged to communicate with the Mississippi Dept. of Transportation to close down the exits intermittently when they become too congested.