Georgia’s coast is under a tropical storm warning as Hurricane Milton charges toward Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday.
Most of Georgia will dodge the storm, which is expected to make landfall between Tampa Bay and Fort Myers late Wednesday or early Thursday. Georgia’s far-southeast cities, some of which are still grappling with power outages and heavy damage from Helene, could again be whipped by 30-40-mph winds and 2 to 6 inches of rain that could cause flash flooding late Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center predicts.
Gov. Brian Kemp said Milton’s impact in Georgia “won’t be anything like” that of Helene but warned residents in the southeast corner of the state to stock up on extra water and food to last a couple of days in case they temporarily lose power or roads are blocked.
Florida residents are evacuating, with many headed to Georgia hotels and campgrounds.
[12:45 p.m.]: School districts in coastal Georgia communities canceled in-person classes ahead of the storm.
Camden County will switch to “distance learning” for the remainder of the week and include activities that do not require students to be online.
Glynn County schools will also be closed Thursday. Friday was already a scheduled “teacher work day” for students, the district said.
Georgia Southern University said Thursday will be an online learning day for the Armstrong and Liberty campuses. The Statesboro campus will remain open.
Savannah State University, however, will conduct remote learning on Thursday and Friday. Its residential halls will remain open.
[12:30 p.m.]: At least 15 RVs have parked at Atlanta Motor Speedway as of Wednesday morning, spokesperson Tyler Head said.
More evacuees have indicated to the ticketing office that they are on their way to the campgrounds, he said.
While only 15 campsites are filled, Head said hundreds more are set aside for evacuees.
[12:15 p.m.]: In Macon, fewer than a dozen evacuees stayed at a Red Cross shelter in a recreation center gym capable of housing more than 100 people. There were more volunteers on hand than evacuees.
However, it is likely the Macon shelter and others like it across the region will host more Floridians on Wednesday night.
Evacuees Rosemary Hernandez and her mother, Marly Hernandez, left their home near Orlando on Tuesday afternoon. After about nine hours on the road, they spent the night in Perry. They couldn’t find anywhere to stay so they parked their SUV in a motel parking lot and slept there.
On Wednesday morning, they made their way to the south Macon shelter.
Rosemary Hernandez, 45, a seventh grade teacher at a Christian school in Kissimmee, was glad she headed north and that she’d heeded meteorologists’ warnings.
“Something very bad is coming,” she said.
Some of her kin stayed behind, but as she navigated clogged highways on the drive north, she sensed she’d made the right decision.
“I saw lots of people doing the same thing,” she said.
— Staff writer Joe Kovac Jr.
[11:30 a.m.]: The NHC warns that “the time to evacuate, if told to do so by local officials, is quickly coming to a close.”
The storm is expected to make landfall at some point late tonight.
“We would like to emphasize that Milton’s exact landfall location is not possible to predict even at this time, particularly if the hurricane wobbles during the day and into this evening,” the NHC said. “Even at 12-24 hours, NHC’s track forecasts can be off by an average of 20-30 nautical miles.”
While an exact timeframe for landfall has not been provided, meteorologists estimate the storm will be over water for another 12 hours or so — roughly. That would put landfall around midnight.
[10:35 a.m.]: The NHC said it’s now “time to rush to complete all preparations to protect life and property in accordance with your emergency plan. Ensure you are in a safe location before the onset of strong winds or possible flooding. Ensure you have multiple ways to receive weather warnings.”
The storm is still about 210 miles southwest of Tampa and moving at about 16 mph.
Vehicle traffic along Georgia’s interstates appears to be moving normally.
[10:25 a.m.]: President Joe Biden warned airlines against price gouging as evacuees rush to leave Florida before the storm’s arrival.
In Tampa, the international airport closed Tuesday, followed by closures of airports in Sarasota/Bradenton and St. Petersburg and the suspension of airline flights to and from Orlando International.
For Wednesday, more than 1,700 flights are canceled, according to FlightAware.com. The cancellations include more than 120 flights at Hartsfield-Jackson, including some to or from Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota/Bradenton and Fort Myers.
[9:15 a.m.]: Home Depot said it had closed 36 of its Florida stores that were in the direct path of Hurricane Milton.
The Vinings-based home improvement giant said 50 other stores would be closing early during the day as the huge storm approached the coast.
Additionally, as of 8 a.m. Wednesday, GasBuddy was reporting that 22.8% of the stations in Florida are out of gasoline.
[ORIGINAL STORY]: Kemp encouraged Floridians to seek shelter in North Georgia or Alabama as resources remain strained in the South Georgia communities hit hardest after Helene. Cities like Atlanta, Columbus, Macon and Albany were preparing to receive hundreds of evacuees.
“I’m already hearing hotel rooms are full all the way to the metro Atlanta area,” Kemp said Tuesday. “So people are going to have to either keep going north or turn and go back into parts of Alabama to try to find hotel rooms or places that they can stay.”
Georgia’s interstates saw large increases in traffic volume Tuesday, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation. Volume on I-75, for example, was four times higher than historical averages. But despite the increased traffic, highway speeds remained normal, GDOT said.
GDOT told drivers to call 511 to get traffic conditions, find out about evacuation routes or request roadside assistance.
In anticipation of Milton, the state of emergency, in place since Hurricane Helene, for counties near the Florida and South Carolina borders, as well as near the coast, has been extended.
“For as long as needed, we will work with those on the local level to ensure resources are available for those who need them following this devastating storm,” Kemp wrote on X.
