Less than a week after two EF-1 tornadoes touched down in Lauderdale County, the National Weather Service is forecasting additional storms on Tuesday.

Severe thunderstorms are forecast to begin late Monday night and move into Tuesday morning throughout East Mississippi bringing wind and rain to the region. A hazardous weather outlook issued Monday warns the storms could bring wind gusts of up to 80 mph and potentially spawn tornadoes.

Low-lying areas of the county may also experience flash flooding Tuesday with storms dumping an additional 1-2 inches of rain.

The severe weather threat comes less than a week after storms damaged homes and trailers in the Toomsuba area. Lauderdale County Emergency Management Director Odie Barrett said the National Weather Service confirmed two EF-1 tornadoes from the March 30 storms, which caused extensive damage to the Clarkdale High School softball field.

With more bad weather on the way, Barrett said Monday preparation continues to be key. Residents are urged to have multiple sources of weather information and plan in advance where to go in a severe weather situation.

“You hear me always telling people to prepare, prepare, prepare, and then sometimes we don’t get anything,” he said. “That’s a tough part of this job, people saying that we’re crying wolf, but prepare, and that’s our biggest thing.”

Barrett also urged residents to report damage to their homes after severe storms. Federal disaster assistance kicks in after $400,000 in damage locally or $4.2 million statewide. Any damage, no matter how little, can help reach the threshold needed to get federal disaster assistance to those whose homes were destroyed, he said.

“When we put in a value, whether it helps us locally or not, being able to put in these documentations of damage may help someone else in the state of Mississippi,” he said. “Even if we had $50,000 in damage, and that’s all we’ve got, it won’t help us locally. But if the state of Mississippi needed another $50,000 to get them to that federal level, it would be helping other members in the state.”