ATLANTA – South Georgia and the Florida Gulf went to bed Thursday bracing for the impact of Hurricane Hermine, which was expected to make landfall early Friday morning.

 

Down in Georgia’s Brooks County, to the west of Valdosta on the Florida line, Mike Smith said Thursday that county officials could do little else to prepare beyond staying on top of weather forecasts.

“It’s wait-and-see because there’s not a lot we can do to prevent the rain and the flooding, or the trees from falling,” said Smith, who heads the county’s emergency management agency.

“We’re getting ready to react, but hoping we don’t have to react,” he said.

Brooks was one of 56 counties in Georgia included in Gov. Nathan Deal’s emergency declaration. His order took effect at noon Thursday and will expire at midnight Saturday.

In Valdosta, Moody Air Force Base relocated aircraft Thursday. The Georgia Ports Authority announced it would shutter facilities in Savannah and Brunswick.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott ordered the closure of state government offices in 51 counties, and school systems within the storm’s reach announced closures.

Hermine will be Florida’s first hurricane in a decade, and as of Thursday afternoon, its winds had reached nearly 75 mph, with stronger gusts. Once the storm makes landfall, there is also a threat of tornadoes forming with little warning.

The storm was projected to hit east of Apalachicola, but the National Hurricane Center cautioned against fixating on the forecasted track. The “extremely asymmetric storm,” it said, could come with far-reaching winds and flooding to the east and southeast of its path.

Russell Moody, emergency management director for Colquitt County, Georgia, said Thursday that he was worried that trees will be especially vulnerable to tropical storm-force winds.

With so many leaves still clinging to branches, their lushness will create wind resistance and could cause trees to topple, he said.

Flooding, he said, is also likely if the rainfall is as abundant as predicted.

“If there’s water on the road, you don’t need to cross it,” Moody said. “You don’t know how deep it is, and it doesn’t take much to wash a vehicle away.”

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency noted on Twitter that it only takes two feet of swiftly moving water to sweep away a full-size car.

Six inches of fast-moving water can knock over a person.

To avoid such hazards, those in the storm’s path were urged to stay home.

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jnolin@cnhi.com.