Hall County emergency officials are keeping a close watch on the latest forecasts for Hurricane Irma and what they might mean for Northeast Georgia.
At a briefing Friday afternoon, officials learned Hurricane Irma could bring tropical storm-force winds to Hall County as early as Monday morning, meaning local emergency officials will likely be spending their weekends getting ready for the worst.
"This hurricane has shifted more to the west, which brings us on the eastern side of the hurricane, which is bad for us, because that's where the worst weather is," said David Kimbrell, Hall County Emergency Management and Homeland Security director.
The storm is expected to bring sustained winds of approximately 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph, though Kimbrell cautioned that the forecasts are always subject to change, advising residents to keep a close watch on the weather. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the storm stays over land as it passes through Florida, which would make it substantially weaker when it arrives in North Georgia.
Kimbrell said residents would be wise to start preparing for the storm as soon as possible.
"There's three things to do. No. 1, make a kit. Go to the store and just think about what you were going to get if you were roughing it in the woods. What do you need? Canned food, jugs of water, anything that's non-perishable so that you can survive two to three days without power," said Kimbrell.
"(No. 2), stay informed. Go to Alerts.HallCounty.org and sign up for our citizens alert system so we can push out those emergency messages about what's going on. You can stay weather aware. (No. 3), have a plan on what to do. Ready.HallCounty.org will give you a list of what you need ... and also make sure you're ready with a plan."
The wind and rain will likely bring down trees and power lines, and Kimbrell said residents could start seeing rain as early as Sunday evening.
