NOAA infrared satellite image of Hurricane Gustav over the central Gulf of Mexico.
Georgia officials are readying plans to accept several thousand evacuees, if necessary from states that may be hit by Hurricane Gustav in the next several days.
Georgia Emergency Management Agency spokesman Buzz Weiss says two emergency shelters were opened Sunday afternoon: "We opened, in collaboration with the Red Cross, two shelters: one in Villa Rica, the other in La Grange. As of last night, we had about 67 people in the Villa Rica facility, with a capacity of about 250; we had about 60 people in the La Grange shelter, with a capacity of about 500."
Weiss says say traffic on interstate highways I-20 and I-85 into Georgia from Alabama has risen significantly as of Sunday afternoon.
The Georgia Highway Patrol says over half of the license tags were from Louisiana and Mississippi.
Weiss says GEMA is closely monitoring the situation: “…and as the need develops, we will look at the need to open additional shelters along the I-20 and I-85 corridor”
The hurricane is expected to make landfall Monday morning.
Metro Atlanta hotels and motels say they're renting rooms to self-evacuees from Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Click here for updated NWS radar and satellite maps of the New Orleans area.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of recent hurricane activity in Gulf of Mexico.
