Ernesto brings Ga. little wind, rain and good surfing

<p>With Ernesto passing the Georgia coast well offshore, Ian Howes needed just two things to ride out the tropical storm _ his swimsuit and a surfboard.</p><p>"We were hoping for a hurricane," Howes, 35, said Thursday after riding a 3 1/2-foot wave back to the beach. "But I'm glad no one had to die for me to have good waves."</p><p>Ernesto tempted a handful of local surfers to Tybee Island, 18 miles east of Savannah, as it churned about 90 miles offshore Thursday. The storm got close enough to spawn sporadic rain showers and wind gusts capable of turning umbrellas inside-out, but passed with minimal damage.</p><p>Savannah police said rain-slicked roads may have contributed to a crash that shut down the Talmadge Bridge, which spans the Savannah River between downtown Savannah and Jasper County, S.C.</p><p>A tractor-trailer struck a car, then hit a guard rail and overturned at the foot of the bridge. The truck driver, who was hospitalized with injuries, appeared to be driving too fast for the weather conditions, said Savannah police spokesman Anthony Fulton.</p><p>The National Hurricane Center lifted a tropical storm warning for Georgia's 100-mile coastline before noon. By then, most of the rain and winds had passed as Ernesto spun toward landfall in the Carolinas.</p><p>"It had really no effect at all," said Richard Strickland, the Glynn County emergency management director. "Once again, we were very lucky."</p><p>Strickland said wind gusts in the Brunswick area reached just 24 mph and areas west of Interstate 95, which follows the coastline, barely got a half-inch of rainfall.</p><p>Just enough rain fell at Tybee Island to form shallow puddles on the sidewalks. Curious tourists strolled the beach-side pier to watch the waves and the whitecaps. Few bothered to bring umbrellas or raincoats.</p><p>Jeff Elliott, 33, of Atlanta and his 4-year-old daughter, Libby, got up early to dip their toes in the surf and scoop buckets full of sand. They packed up and headed indoors when the wind picked up around 9 a.m.</p><p>"It looks just like a little rainstorm," Elliott said. "It's not that bad."</p><p>The ice cream stand and daiquiri bar on the pier stayed closed Thursday morning, but local painter Jon Pickering was there selling his acrylics of Tybee scenes for $150 to $500. His biggest worry was occasional wind gusts tipping over the paintings he'd propped on a picnic bench.</p><p>"Whether there's a storm or not, I get a lot more traffic out here than I do at a gallery," Pickering said.</p>

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