Officials from three states of the Gulf Coast will be meeting this week to discuss preparations for hurricane season.

The 2009 Gulf States Hurricane Conference will be held Wednesday through Friday at the Coast Coliseum and Convention Center with officials from Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

It will feature weather experts from the National Hurricane Center and The Weather Channel.

Mike Womack, director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, says anything “that happens to Alabama happens to Mississippi and anything that happens to Louisiana happens to Mississippi.”

Three years ago, Mississippi and Alabama began holding joint hurricane conferences in the summer. This is the first year Louisiana emergency officials are participating.