HANCOCK COUNTY, MS - Katrina lesson learned: A sheriff's department can't do much without cars, trucks, or gasoline. Such was the case two years ago, when the hurricane turned the Hancock County Sheriff's Department, then located in Old Town Bay St. Louis, into ground zero, reported AOL News.

Offices, equipment, the county jail, and vehicles were ravaged overnight. And there were no gasoline reserves to speak of. To use the few cars the storm did not destroy, deputies were forced to rip apart or siphon tanks on ruined vehicles and transfer the gas to usable cars.

Things have since changed, AOL News reported. The sheriff's fleet of 50 vehicles has been rebuilt. Although the jail has yet to be replaced, the department's headquarters is now on higher ground in Kiln. And delivery will soon be made on a solution to possible future fuel emergencies.

Under sheriff Ronnie Cuevas, with support from county supervisors and Sheriff Steve Garber, will be receiving a new 12,000-gallon portable fuel tank. It will supply gasoline to sheriff's vehicles in the event of future disasters that may cause a gas crunch such as Katrina did.

On Aug. 6, supervisors approved a bid of $38,495 to build and supply the steel tank. Cuevas said at the time that the task of finding manufacturers, locating funding and advertising for bids had taken about six months. The tank is now finished and will be delivered in days.

"It's going to be in next week," Cuevas said according to AOL News. The tank will also have a backup generator and pump so it can be used during power outages. It will be stored at the county's north-end maintenance facility off Mississippi 43, well away from the flood zone.

There, it will sit empty until a hurricane or other predictable disaster seems imminent. It can then be filled from a tanker truck. "My plan is not to fill it unless we have to, and then use it for an emergency," Cuevas said. "The biggest thing is, we'll have it in an area with power where we can use it."

The department actually has 30 patrol cars deputies use constantly. The fuel tank should be large enough to keep them going, hopefully until outside help arrives with large quantities of gasoline.