As Hurricane Danny intensified in the central Atlantic Thursday, local EMA officials wanted to urge locals not to wait until the last minute to prepare for a tropical storm or hurricane to make landfall.

Latest projections have Danny reaching Puerto Rico by 8 a.m. on Tuesday, so it’s difficult at this point for forecasters to know where it will go after that or if it will dissipate.

Yesterday, Danny was more than 1,000 miles east of the Leeward Islands, or 900 miles north of the equator.

AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski said they expect fluctuations in strength through the time it reaches the Leeward Islands on Monday.

“The small, compact nature of Danny makes it a challenging storm to forecast as it can ramp up and weaken in a matter of hours,” he said. “Despite the issues with dry air, the system will remain in an overall favorable area for development into the weekend with warm waters and weak wind shear.”

Danny is currently forecast to continue to move in a general west-northwest direction through next week, which will take the system across the northern islands of the Caribbean.

Kottloswksi said the system is likely to get shredded by the mountains in Puerto Rico and Hispaniola.

“It does remain too far out to know if Danny will be a Gulf storm or not, but we would like to stress to the citizens that this the time to prepare themselves for any type of weather situations,” Covington County Assistant EMA Director Alan Syler said.

Syler reminded residents that there are no pre-event shelters in Covington County.

“It is the individual’s responsibility to have a plan as to where they will go in the event of a storm, such as a family member’s home that is a strong structure,” Syler said. “It is too late to decided where to go if the storm is approaching.”

Syler said that those who haven’t set up their emergency preparedness kits should take time to do so.

“We like to stress for every family to have enough supplies to sustain themselves for a 72-hour period of time in the event of damage to the community or loss of power,” he said.

Items needed include: water, food, batter-powered or hand crank radio, NOAA weather radio, flashlight and extra batteries, first aid kit, whistle to signal for help, dust mask, moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties, wrench and pliers, can opener for food and local maps.