At the same time the National Hurricane Center gave out its first advisory on the depression, they also gave out a tropical storm warning from Apalachicola, Florida to the delta of the Mississippi River. Shortly thereafter, an inland tropical storm warning was given out for Pearl River, Walthall, and Pike counties in Mississippi and Washington Parish in Louisiana. Also, the New Orleans National Weather Service gave out a coastal flood watch for four parishes in southeastern Louisiana. In Mississippi, Governor Haley Barbour declared a state of emergency. Officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for people living in areas of low lands and in mobile homes for Jackson, Harrison, and Hancock counties. Officials in New Orleans opened three emergency shelters, stating the possible need of shelter for citizens in about 17,000 FEMA trailers after Hurricane Katrina. Because of the threat of the cyclone, Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco also declared a state of emergency and placed the state's National Guard and other disaster services on stand-by.