ATLANTA — Tropical Storm Hermine is making it's way into Georgia after reaching land overnight.
Hermine was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm Friday morning. With winds hitting about 80 mph, it was the first hurricane to make landfall since 2005 in Florida when it hit around 1:30 a.m.
Severe Weather Team 2 is tracking the storm's impacts on Georgia on Channel 2 Action News at Noon.
The gulf coast of Florida is getting pounded by strong winds and rain.
Meteorologist Karen Minton said the storm currently has winds up to 70 mph.
“Damaging winds and flooding rain are over much of northern Florida and south Georgia,” said Severe Weather Team 2’s Brad Nitz. “This continues to the north-northeast, as it has been through the day.”
Our Severe Weather Team 2 meteorologists are tracking the path of the storm and the impact here in Georgia, on Channel 2 Action News This Morning.
Hermine has also increased in strength a bit with winds sustaining at about 80 mph, with gusts upward of 100 mph as it begins to hit Florida.
"The hurricane is expected to take a track across south Georgia as we head through tomorrow," Nitz said. "Overnight and into early tomorrow morning, Hermine weakens slightly to a tropical storm, with 70 mph sustained winds and the potential for flooding rainfall, and there will be some impacts on the backside of this system for metro Atlanta."
Channel 2's Ross Cavitt is in Franklin County, Florida, as the storm is making its way ashore.
Cavitt came across some deputies out patrolling for storm trouble who found themselves helping one of their own Thursday night. A deputy in a new cruiser rammed a tree tossed onto Highway 98.
"The tree had fallen on the road, and as he was travelling west here, he hit the tree," Capt. Brad Segree, of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, told Cavitt.
"We've had a lot of wind, a lot of rain. We have had high water on St. George Island that's been over some roads over there," Segree said.
Marshall Hunt happened upon the scene. The Atlanta man said he'd ride out the storm at his family's beach house on the Gulf.
So far, Hermine is not making his Top 10.
"Yeah, it's not bad at all yet," Hunt told Cavitt. "The seas aren't nearly as high as they have been the last (time) when Dennis came through. This road right here was underwater, I was under a foot of water right here in this spot."
But no one wanted to take chances with the storm surge starting to take over low-lying marshland and some roadways, deputies and troopers were taking positions.
But with Hermine just a short distance away there was cautious optimism.
"Through the years in my lifetime here in Franklin County, we've seen a lot worse," Segree said.
Much of the Florida panhandle and the gulf coast is under a hurricane warning.
Most of the northern part of Florida, all of south Georgia and parts of middle Georgia are under a tropical storm warning for sustained winds of 35 mph.
A flash flood watch has also been issued for parts of middle and eastern Georgia, on the inland side of the hurricane path.
Weather impacts for the metro
The storm is expected to move into Georgia around the Valdosta at about 2 a.m. The strongest part of the storm, near the center, will have sustained winds of about 80 mph.
As the storm moves through Georgia, parts of the southeastern metro will see 20-30 mph winds from the storm.
“To the south and east, out towards the Lake Country and Eatonton, you could easily have gusts over 30 mph, to 40 perhaps at times,” Nitz said.
The winds will taper off by 6 p.m. as the storm moves in to South Carolina and out to the coast.
The first rain associated with the storm will appear Friday morning, moving up through the southern metro. The heaviest rain will stay to the south and east.
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It will stay dry throughout northwest Georgia Friday.
“Parts of our area, south and east, could see 2 to 4, even isolated 6 inch rainfall totals. And then it clears out as we wrap up Friday, heading into Saturday,” Nitz said.
For the holiday weekend, Nitz says to expect sunshine and low humidity.
State of Emergency declared for Georgia
Gov. Nathan Deal has declared a state of emergency for 56 counties in southern and middle Georgia ahead of Hermine.
The state of emergency went into effect at noon Thursday and extends through midnight Saturday.
“Georgia is expected to receive severe weather related to (Hurricane) Hermine through Saturday,” Deal said. “We are working to ensure counties in south, central and coastal Georgia have access to the state resources necessary to prepare and respond when (Hurricane) Hermine enters Georgia. Our Emergency Operations Command will continue closely monitoring this storm and additional counties may be included in this declaration as needed," Deal said.
State, federal agencies prepare
Georgia Emergency Management officials and others are currently coordinating disaster preparation efforts to respond to whatever Hermine throws at Georgia in the next 48 hours.
They say their response will have much to do with the speed of the storm and its intensity.
"We estimate just under one million people could be impacted in Georgia by this storm," GEMA director Jim Butterworth told Channel 2's Tom Regan.
Butterworth rallied his troops Thursday at the disaster command center for the battle against Hurricane Hermine.
Coordinators from an array of state agencies, including the Department of Transportation, Public Safety and Natural Resources, are fine tuning their game plan to provide help as quickly as possible to areas hit by storm damage and flooding.
Butterworth says it will be up to local authorities in south and coastal Georgia to decide whether evacuations are necessary, but says it's likely that emergency shelters will be put into action.
Schools close ahead of storm
Several college campuses have announced they are canceling classes ahead of Hurricane Hermine.
Here is a list of closures so far:
- Albany State University
- Darton State College
- Valdosta State University
- Georgia Southern University- Statesboro campus
- Georgia Southern University- Coastal Georgia Center
- Savannah State University
- Florida State University
Storm shelters to open
The American Red Cross will open five shelters Thursday evening for those affected by Hurricane Hermine.
The Red Cross shelters provide the immediate emergency needs of those affected, including a safe place to stay and food to eat.
Here is a list of shelter locations expected to open Thursday evening:
Tift County
Tift County Recreation Center
401 Victory Dr, Tifton, GA 31794
Lowndes County
Mathis Municipal Auditorium
2300 North Ashley Street, Valdosta GA 31602
Ware County
Waycross Middle School
700 Central Ave, Waycross, GA 31501
Coffee County
Center Square Complex Exhibit Hall B
200 South Madison Avenue Douglas, GA 31533
Wayne County
Wayne County High School
1 Jacket Drive, Jesup, GA 31545
Additional shelters will be opened if needed.
Download our Severe Weather Team 2 app. You can use StormTracker 2 HD radar to track Hermine as it moves across Georgia and Florida.
It also offers Tropical Alerts. This is another type of alert that tells you when one of your saved locations is in the path of an active tropical system.
The forecasts are based on the NHC updates. If a user has a saved location within the forecast cone they will receive a text alert whenever the NHC updates their forecast.
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