If your Labor Day weekend plans include beach time in Georgia or Florida, you may want to reconsider. Hurricane Dorian is heading for the southeastern United States. It’s expected to be a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of around 130 mph when it makes landfall on Monday, the National Hurricane Center says. Dorian is expected to come ashore somewhere along Florida’s Atlantic coast.
Georgia DOT: Weather, evacuees expected to impact holiday travel
Storm impact
Hurricane Dorian could start impacting Coastal Georgia this weekend with storm surge and higher waves. People farther inland in south and central Georgia could start feeling the storm’s impact as early as Sunday night into Monday on Labor Day as outer rain bands move across the area. Forecasters say 2-4 inches of rain could fall on the region through early next week, but that could change significantly based on Dorian’s track once it makes landfall.
Tropical Storm force winds greater than 39 mph may extend more than 100 miles from the center of the storm.
State of Emergency
Florida is now under a State of Emergency and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp Thursday declared a State of Emergency for twelve coastal Georgia counties including Brantley, Bryan, Camden, Charlton, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long, McIntosh, Pierce, and Wayne. The governor has also suspended restrictions on commercial vehicles to assist in storm preparation, response, and recovery.
Kemp and Georgia Emergency Management officials spoke about the state’s storm preparations during a press conference Thursday afternoon. The governor said the State Operations Center was activated at Level 2 Thursday morning. He said the Georgia National Guard, State Patrol, and other state agencies are on standby, ready to be deployed if necessary.
Georgia officials remain in close contact with the governors of Florida and South Carolina and federal officials, according to Kemp. “We’ve also been in regular communication with the White House to monitor the situation and they’ve assured us they’re ready to assist anywhere in the southeast if needed.”
“I urge our citizens to be ready to move very quickly. We still don’t know a lot about the path this storm will take,” Gov. Kemp said. “We should know more in the next 24 hours.”
