Right Whale Freed Off Georgia Coast

A two year old right whale calf ensnared in fishing gear off the Georgia coast is free. Federal and state workers successfully cut the synthetic ropes to free the whale, entangled since mid January. Rescue efforts last month were frustrated by choppy seas. The rescue Thursday took more than four hours. Only about 350 to 400 North Atlantic right whales remain, putting them among the most highly endangered of all whales.

'Hanna' could affect Georgia

Even with the current focus on 'Gustav', forecasters have a wary eye on the Atlantic, where Tropical Storm Hanna is churning within 100 miles of the Bahamas.

This is a storm forecasters say Georgians need to follow closely. Mike Griesinger of the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City says the current projection--although several days out--puts ‘Hanna’ on a path for Georgia’s coast by perhaps Friday afternoon:

"That forecast kind of falls in the middle of them, but there’s about 10 or so models and they take it anywhere from Daytona to Charleston".

Griesinger says residents from Brunswick to Savannah should refresh their plans for hurricane preparations.

‘Hanna’ at last check was moving very slowly--only two miles-an-hour, with sustained winds near 50 mph.

Officials with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency have already activated their emergency planning. GEMA’s Kandice Eldon says they expect the state operations center to be in full-operation Tuesday.

"We’re talking staffing now...there are meetings right now with GEMA officials to talk about what steps to take next. But we do have people who are in our operations center now monitoring the storm and taking part in conference calls. Tomorrow, we’ll definitely see an influx of more agencies and representatives in our operations center".

Eldon urges coastal residents right now to reacquaint themselves with hurricane evacuation routes, and make sure they have fully-stocked disaster kits.

'Fay' may have hurt coastal turtles

Tropical storm Fay’s trek through south Georgia might have had an adverse effect on the state’s loggerhead sea turtle nests.

It's already expected to be a record nesting season for the state and federally-protected loggerhead--officials predict a total of nearly 16-hundred nests to be recorded.

It's now in the middle of hatching season. But because of the rough weather on the coast the past two days, the fear is many of those nests may have been destroyed. Mark Dodd heads the sea turtle program for the Department of Natural Resources.

"Tide has been much higher than predicted and there’s been a bit of a storm surge. We have some preliminary reports from some of the barrier islands and it appears some nests have been affected but we really don’t know to what extent at this point".

Dodd says he expects sea turtle interns and technicians to hit the beaches over the weekend to begin to survey the possible damage to the nests.

'Fay' closes two SE Ga school systems

Schools in Camden and McIntosh counties were closed Thursday, ahead of expected heavy rains and wind in southeast Georgia. Tropical Storm Fay continues to threaten Georgia's entire 100-mile coastline--a flood watch is in effect for counties in southeast Georgia through late Friday. Current predictions are for 3-6 inches of rain. The storm could also bring strong winds, causing localized flooding and power outages. As of Thursday morning, Fay was nearly stationary in the Atlantic off Florida's coast near Daytona. Forecasters expect the storm to eventually move west-northwest during the day.

Tropical Storm Fay update

Officials in southeast Georgia are closely watching Tropical Storm Fay and its movement. As of early Thursday morning the storm was nearly stationary off Florida’s coast near Daytona Beach. A tropical storm warning does extend along the Georgia coast--in addition, there is a flood watch in place for much of the southeast Georgia area through late Friday. The main threat of Fay right now is heavy rainfall and torrential downpours with high wind gusts.

Stay with GPB radio for continuing updates on the storm and its movement. You can also get news updates from our website--gpb.org--and by oing to the Georgia News blog.

Five missing are resuced off Georgia coast

Five missing boaters have been rescued off the Georgia coast. A helicopter crew with the Coast Guard picked up the boaters, who had been stranded on the eastern side of St. Catherine's Island. The group had been missing since a Sunday day trip.
The boaters had beached their vessel to ride out a passing squall, but the following tide flooded the boat on the beach. They were unable to push back into the water. The group used lighters to signal the Coast Guard choppers.