A tropical storm watch was issued for Georgia’s coast Thursday as Hanna continued on a track toward landfall in the Carolinas, sparing Georgia from any threat of a direct hit.

Emergency officials in Savannah warned that the storm could still bring heavy rain and gusty winds.

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Pouya Dianat/pdianat@ajc.com

Some beach goers on Tybee Island were anticipating stronger waves from Hurricane Hanna.

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Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News/ AP

Joel Rodriguez and Lisa Girardin, employees at the Tybee Marine Science Center, fill sand bags under the pier to help prevent water from flooding into the Center at Tybee Island, Ga., Wednesday.

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“On Friday evening, Chatham County residents can expect slightly higher tides, 2 to 4 inches of rain and the possibilty of 25-35 mph wind with gusts reaching 45 mph,” the Chatham Emergency Management Agency said in a statement issued Thursday morning.

The National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm watch for most of the Georgia coast, north of Altamaha Sound.

At 8 a.m., Hanna was still centered in the Bahamas, about 760 mimles south-southeast of Wilmington, N.C., moving to the northwest near 12 mph. Maximum sustained winds were near 70 mph, and forecasters said the storm could intensify to hurricane strength before reaching the Carolina coast on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Ike had strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” category 4 storm packing winds of 145 mph. Ike was still over the open waters of the Atlantic Thursday morning, and the hurricane center said it was “too early to determine what land areas might eventually be affected.”

With Hanna’s threat dwindling, the Georgia Emergency Mangement Agency shifted focus to the newer storm.

“All eyes are on Ike,” GEMA spokesman Ken Davis said Thursday morning.

Davis said GEMA would stop manning its 24-hour operations center in southeast Atlanta at 7 p.m. Thursday. He said the operation would likely resume early next week when Hurricane Ike nears the U.S. coast.

GEMA officials were also monitoring Tropical Storm Josephine, behind Ike. “It looks like it’s going to be a couple or three weeks before we’re out of the woods,” Davis said.

Projections call for Hanna’s eye to pass 120 to 140 miles east of Savannah, and 75 miles east of South Carolina before making landfall sometime Saturday afternoon, probably near Wilmington, N.C.

The storm had earlier been projected to smack Cumberland Island off Georgia’s southern coast before skipping northward.

Georgians, yet again, appeared to have dodged the hurricane bullet. Vigilance, though, remained the watchword from St. Marys to Savannah as emergency management officials weren’t quite ready Wednesday evening to bid Hanna adieu.

And, with Hurricane Ike and Tropical Storm Josephine brewing farther down in the Atlantic, locals cautioned that relief may be short-lived.

“We’re watching other ones out there,” said Tybee Mayor Jason Buelterman. “They’re lining up like choo-choo trains.”

Earlier in the week, state and county emergency officials considered issuing a voluntary evacuation order for coastal counties, but no evacuations were suggested Wednesday.

Freighters will continue to head up and down the Savannah River without interruption, according to the Georgia Ports Authority.

“Currently, everything is business as usual,” said ports spokesman Robert Morris. “It looks like the coast of Georgia may very well dodge another storm.”

Some coastal residents were prepared to head for higher ground nonetheless.

“The water won’t do anything to me and I won’t be thrilled if the power is off, but it’s the wind — I’ve got glass windows facing toward the ocean — that I’m worried about,” said Tanya Fowler, who lives 150 feet from the Tybee Pier. “If the wind gets going, I’ll leave.”

Along the coast, hurricane staples — bottles of water, batteries, bread, gas cans, flashlights, lantern oil — disappeared from grocery and convenience store shelves. Storm shutters covered windows at Savannah’s City Hall. Hotels along Interstate 95 reported brisker-than-usual business for post-vacation September.

“The hurricane ran away a lot of business. We’ve had several cancellations,” said Woody Hemphill, who runs River’s End Campground and R.V. Park on Tybee. “We try to discourage people from canceling until the storm gets closer to land. But they want a written guarantee that the storm is not coming.”

A 20-foot sailboat listed sideways on Tybee’s beach below the pier, courtesy of Hanna. A handful of houses on Tybee wore plywood patches. Trash cans, recycling bins and other potential flying objects were stowed away. Sandbags awaited placement alongside the Tybee Island Marine Science Center. And the lifeguard stands were carted from the beach Wednesday and stacked on 19th Street.

“People swim at their own risk,” said Jonathan Thomas, the lifeguard in charge. “The waves and the riptides will probably be worse Thursday than they were today. But when [weather forecasters] say the storm is heading up north, I’m relieved.”

Tybee’s mayor, though, is paid to fear the worst.

“The path of this storm has changed so many times, so there’s nothing to say it won’t change again,” he warned. “We hope and pray it misses us entirely and we have another beautiful weekend down here.”

While there was no sign of folks boarding up on St. Simons Island, grocers were doing a brisk business in bottled water. And Hanna remained high on the minds of those who live on the Golden Isles.

“That’s all my customers are talking about,” said Brenda Kennedy, owner of the Island Hairport salon. Some older residents are leaving, Kennedy said as she loaded six bottles of water into her trunk at the Winn Dixie. “They’re going to Macon and Atlanta.”

Frank Beckum, 77, was among those planning to evacuate Thursday morning. Beckum said he wanted to assure he had access to dialysis, so he was going to stay with his wife’s family in Hawkinsville until Hanna passes by.

Beckum said he got a taste of Hurricane David in 1979 and the relatively mild storm was all he needed. “I promised the good Lord and the two drunks I was with that I wouldn’t do that again.”

— Marcus K. Garner contributed to this report