Georgia agency mobilizes for Hanna

State officials began preparing late Tuesday to respond to the impending landfall of Tropical Storm Hanna, even as the storm seemed to stall in the Caribbean.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency led preparations as state and private agencies from the Georgia State Troopers to the Red Cross worked to ensure people living along the coast can cope with the storm.

Officials expect the storm, which is expected to restrengthen to a hurricane, to make landfall on or near the Georgia coast Friday afternoon, with effects being felt as early as Thursday night.

So the state has to get ready.

From positioning emergency aid equipment and response vehicles to rounding up evacuation support and designating escape routes, GEMA employees will be on duty 24 hours a day until the storm passes.

But heeding the agency’s warnings should be the first priority for coastal residents, GEMA director Charlie English said in a statement early Tuesday evening.

“Even if the storm does not make landfall in Georgia, Tropical Storm Hanna may bring extensive flooding, tornadoes and power outages,” English said.

In case of a mandatory evacuation, the Georgia Department of Transportation has plans to use contraflow traffic — one-way only traffic going away from the coast — along the 166-mile stretch of I-16 from Savannah to Macon.

DOT crews also are moving equipment out of the way of the storm, GEMA spokesman Buzz Weiss said.

“We’re making preparations for H.E.R.O. units from Atlanta to be assigned to the coast, and the Red Cross has been activated to identify potential shelter locations,” Weiss said.

More than 150 buses are ready should they be needed to carry evacuees from the coast, and Federal Emergency Management Agency is moving disaster supplies such as cots, pre-packaged foods and medical supplies to Jessup, nearly 50 miles inland from the coast.

“And we’re putting Georgia Search and Rescue personnel on alert,” Weiss said.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami predicts a 55 percent chance that Hanna will grow back into a hurricane.

“We’re planning for a Category 2 hurricane, although Hanna will likely only be Category 1,” GEMA meteorologist Chris Walsh said, predicting six- to eight-foot waves. Category 1 storms have winds of 74 to 95 miles per hour, while Category 2 storms bring gale-force winds of 96 to 110 miles per hour.

Coastal communities could call for evacuations as early as Wednesday morning, GEMA officials said, but no such mandate had been made late Tuesday night.

At the very least, coastal residents are encouraged to move inland as the storm hits.

“People should evacuate tens of miles, not hundreds of miles, from the storm,” GEMA spokesman Ken Davis said. “If you’re not in the Barrier Islands or low-lying land, you don’t need to evacuate.”