Wednesday afternoon, computer models hadn’t found a consensus about where, when and if Hurricane Joaquin will make landfall on the East Coast, but Beaufort County Emergency Management is putting the word out: be prepared.

“If we get hit head-on by this hurricane, if it comes ashore as a (category) two, with the amount of water that we’ve got, it will create a nightmare,” said Beaufort County Emergency Management Director John Pack. “We will be issuing mandatory evacuations for low-lying areas.”

According to Pack, National Weather Service scientists said Wednesday that if Joaquin takes a turn toward North Carolina, the hurricane will speed up, giving eastern North Carolina residents less than 48 hours notice. The small window means people should prepare now, he said.

“It’s been four years since we had an event. People are getting complacent,” Pack said. “We’ve got to get people refocused.”

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service was predicting Hurricane Joaquin would make landfall on the Outer Banks at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Making sure hurricane kits are up to date, including fresh batteries; food and water is of adequate supply; establishing communication and/or evacuation plans with family; checking generators; and moving any outdoor personal property that could be swept away by wind or high water, are some things that residents should be checking in preparation for what could be a major hurricane or could be scaled down to a major rain event, according to officials.

But even a major rain event is not to be underestimated, Pack said.

“We’ve had four federally declared disasters since 2006 and three of those were tropical storms. Hurricane Irene was the only hurricane,” he said.

The concern is the amount of rain Beaufort County has seen over the past week, estimated at 5 to 8 inches depending on location. According to NWS, another 4 to 7 inches is expected from Thursday night to Saturday morning. Wednesday afternoon, NWS issued a flood watch for most of eastern North Carolina until Saturday night.

“This amount of rain will produce widespread ponding of roadways and flooding of urban and poor drainage areas especially with the ground already saturated. Drainage ditches may also overflow onto roadways and even flooding of more rural areas is possible. Streams and rivers are also expected to rise,” according to NWS.

“The key is, it’s been long and slow (rain). Everything has soaked in. It hasn’t been so hard that it’s run off,” Pack said. “If you’re in one of the low-lying areas where you normally get flooding, it’s going to twice as bad.”

Ground saturation also leaves trees vulnerable to wind, especially the wind produced by a tropical system.

“Forty-five mph of wind is danger to trees, especially those that still have a lot of foliage on them. And that’s the majority of our trees,” Pack said. “I’m advising everybody to take great precautions if they have trees on their property. … If you can see the wind blow and the ground move around the tree, that’s an indication that tree is not as far in the ground as you may think.”

Pack warned residents to stay “weather aware,” especially when driving — the amount of rain has increased standing water on the roads and softened roadside berms.

“Remember, there could be water around every bend. It’s a danger — even though you have brand new tires, you can hydroplane in a heartbeat.”

State, county and city officials will meet at the Beaufort County Emergency Operations Center at 11:15 a.m. Thursday to determine an cohesive course of action should one be necessary.