(KLFY) Tropical Storm Nicholas is heading towards Texas and Louisiana right now, and State and local leaders are preparing.

The Louisiana State Fire Marshal’s Office says it is preparing a rescue boat staging area in Lafayette in case of severe flooding in south Louisiana.

“We’re really looking at the availability potentially for a wide range of rainfall to occur from Lake Charles really all the way across the southern half of the state,” Ashley Rodrigue with the State Fire Marshal’s Office said.

Rodrigue says they are staging water rescue assets in Lafayette in preparation.

She says they’ll be manned by trained firefighters and will be deployed across south Louisiana for water rescue, boat rescue, or confined space rescue during the tropical storm.

“We’ve got those resources that can literally drive in and cut their way through or when you’ve got an instance of a water rescue type of situation. If our vehicles can’t get through the water, the next step is high water vehicles. The next step are the boats. So all of those things are in place and ready to go if the call comes in,” Rodrigue told News Ten.

Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory declares State of Emergency ahead of TS Nicholas

In St. Landry Parish, officials are preparing for the storm by sandbagging.

“We know in our parish, we flood pretty easy,” St. Landry Parish President Jessie Bellard said.

He says they’re expecting 15 inches of rain.

“With this kind of water coming our way, we know we’re going to have challenges, but we are set up here. We’re going to be set up here tomorrow until the threat is over with. We’re going to have high water rescue vehicles. We’ll have our excavators out here to remove trees if need be. We’ll have busses over here to go get people out of their homes or their businesses and bring them to shelter. I’m asking [people] to prepare for the worst,” Bellard added.

Officials say the best thing you can do right now is not underestimate this tropical storm and prepare.