Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a new state of emergency as Hurricane Milton approaches. The Georgia Governor issued a state of emergency for “counties that could be affected by Hurricane Milton.” Many of the Georgia counties covered in the governor’s state of emergency continue to suffer devastation from Hurricane Helene. Hurricane Milton “hit Florida Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm.”
Several counties were included in the governor’s state of emergency, such as “Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Berrien, Bibb, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Butts, and Camden.” For a complete list of the counties covered in the governor’s emergency statement, see here. As reported, the state of emergency “will last until the end of the day Wednesday, Oct. 16.” Residents of southeast Georgia “can expect to experience the effects of Milton from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday evening.”
The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA) issued a statement informing that “Milton may bring 2 to 6 inches of rainfall and tropical storm force winds of 40 to 50 mph in some counties and less severe rainfall and wind further inland.” Per GEMA, residents of Camden, Glynn, McIntosh, Brantley, Charlton and Ware counties could see flash flooding.
Storm surge warnings are in effect for the far southeast coast of the state, around Camden and Glynn counties. “A storm surge warning means people remaining in the area could face life-threatening inundation from rising water during the next 36 hours.”
“The National Hurricane Center predicts that southern parts of coastal Georgia could see a storm surge from 3 to 5 feet above ground level, with the maximum predicted height at 6 feet.” Parts of the coast toward the north, such as Savannah, “may see a storm surge from 1 to 3 feet above ground level with a maximum of 3 feet.”
According to the National Hurricane Center, a “large part of the coast of Georgia is under tropical storm warnings.” For an up-to-date list of Red Cross shelters in Georgia, please visit the Red Cross website.