Hurricane Gustav evacuees begin arriving in Ga. (updated)

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.

NASA visual satellite image of Hurricane Gustav over the central Gulf of Mexico.

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.

Quiet hurricane season ends

Georgia and the U.S. coast went nearly untouched by hurricanes in this year’s Atlantic season, which ends today. But some fear the inactivity could spur complacency among Georgians for future hurricane preparedness.

14 named storms were recorded for the period between June and November. Government forecasters had predicted a range of 13-17. Six were hurricanes, but all struck elsewhere on the map, away from the U.S.

It has been a couple of years since the relentless pounding of storms the U.S. took in 2004 and ’05, including Hurricane Katrina. But with the recent quiet seasons, Ken Davis of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency says there could be concern for public apathy in preparedness.

"Particularly when nothing happens so to speak in any given hurricane season, but I think we’re so close on the heels of some very, super active seasons that I don’t think complacency has crept in just yet".

Davis says even with a quiet season in the Atlantic, there’s emergency planning going year-round. Next week GEMA has a hurricane planning session scheduled for Jesup.

Keys residents weigh evacuation, Gulf Coast next?

NOAA satellite photo of Hurricane Ike, Sunday afternoon. Click on the image for the latest National Weather Service reports.

With powerful Hurricane Ike still hundreds of miles away and on an uncertain course, residents on these low-lying islands weighed evacuation orders Sunday, perhaps a hint that Gulf Coast residents as far away as Texas and New Orleans may not heed similar calls to leave.

Sunday's forecast had Ike crossing Cuba and headed into the Gulf of Mexico later this week. The Florida Keys were in an uncertain position, and Gulf Coast states even more so. In Texas and Louisiana, where people were just returning from the mass evacuation for a weaker-than-expected Gustav, officials already acknowledged that it may be difficult to get people mobilized again.

In Key West, many residents have their own formula for determining whether to leave. Even though evacuation orders became mandatory Sunday, traffic out of Key West was busy but not jammed.

Mike Tilson, 24, was in wait-and-see mode Sunday, stocking up his Key West houseboat with supplies.

"I got tarps and champagne," he said as he pushed a wheelbarrow of supplies including Heineken beer, ice and a loaf of bread down the dock.

He said if the storm tracks north of Cuba, he'd evacuate. Otherwise, he won't leave even if Key West is expecting a Category 3 (winds of 111-130 mph). "It's just a good party. I'll stay."

At 2 p.m. EDT Sunday, Ike was a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 135 mph, moving west at 13 mph. Hurricane force winds stretched 60 miles from the center. It was forecast to track over Cuba, re-emerging over the island's western coast Tuesday morning about 100 miles south of Key West as a Category 1.

Though forecasts suggested the storm was headed into the Gulf, historically, most major storms passing by Ike's position had curved northward. If it gets into the Gulf, it could head anywhere from Texas to the Florida Panhandle, and it likely would strengthen again.

President Bush declared a state of emergency for Florida because of Ike on Sunday and ordered federal money to supplement state and local response efforts.

More than 60 residents and nearly 90 people from a homeless shelter had arrived at a shelter at Florida International University in Miami by afternoon, but many others said they wanted to see what the storm does over Cuba and possibly reassess on Monday.

Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson had a warning for people not wanting to evacuate the area. He said anyone who thinks staying through a major hurricane is "champagne time is someone who hasn't thought it through clearly." He said emergency vehicles would be pulled off the road if the area gets tropical storm force winds.

McPherson said 15,000 tourists had already evacuated the region, and the Key West airport was set to close at 7 p.m. Sunday. Passengers bound for Key West from the Miami International Airport were being asked to show identification proving they lived there and only residents were being allowed on Key Westbound flights.

Among those planning to stay in the United States' southernmost city were Claudia Pennington, 61, director of the Key West Art and Historical Society, who said she's staying to care for the group's three buildings and their contents. Don Guess, 50, was putting up plywood on a friend's house Sunday and said he was sticking around because the storm didn't worry him.

(The Associated Press)

Click here for more GPB News storm coverage.

Hurricane season underway; 5 major storms predicted

Ready or not, Friday, June 1st, marks the official start of the 2007 hurricane season, which runs through November 31st. Meteorologists say there could be up to five major hurricanes in the Atlantic and Gulf state regions this year.

But, a new poll by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, says fifty three percent of people who live in those areas just aren't ready with either an evacuation or a survival plan.

That doesn’t surprise Buzz Weiss of Georgia's Emergency Management Agency.

"The last major evacuation we had on the coast was in 1999. Well that has gone from people's minds because that hurricane made landfall in No. Carolina, and they assume, well, it's not going to happen again."

Weiss says if you're determined to stay put rather than evacuate, there's something you should know. "There's a term we like to use – YO YO 72. You're on your own for 72 hours. And people need to be aware of that."

Weiss says at a minimum, all families should have an evacuation and a reunification plan as well as a five day supply of water, food and medicines.

You can find more information about hurricane evacuation plans where you live, by calling your local office of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

Louisiana residents in GA. weighing when to return

About five hundred of the evacuees from Hurricane Gustav are waiting out the hurricane in Georgia. Some three hundred of them are being hosted at Villa Rica, not far from the Alabama state line.

Red Cross and local volunteers here are providing cots, hot meals and showers for the displaced families.

The exhausted evacuees, many of with them children and elderly family members, are taking shelter in a gym and meeting rooms at a local recreation center.

One of them is Kenner, Louisiana, resident Nolan Eugene, who arrived in a convoy with friends:

"Everybody runnin' from that hurricane, but it done now passed over now, and I'm ready to get back home (laughs). We could leave out tonight, instead of spending another night here – I don't know… six carloads of us got to make a decision."

Villa Rica is one of five shelters the Red Cross has opened statewide including Columbus, La Grange, Lawrenceville and Tift County.

Click here for more GPB News coverage or Hurricane Gustav.

Are coastal Georgians ready for hurricane season?

Tomorrow is the first day of hurricane season and a new poll says coastal Georgians may not be prepared to survive a hurricane. The Mason-Dixon poll says 88% of people surveyed in 18 Atlantic and Gulf Coast states said they haven’t taken any steps to fortify their homes. Forecasters expect 10 hurricanes this year with three to five expected to be major. Public safety officials tell residents to stockpile at least a three-day supply of bottled water, nonperishable food and medicine.

Georgia Power crews in Mississippi

Georgia Power Co. says its utility crews are working to restore electricity across storm-battered Mississippi in the wake of Hurricane Gustav. About 900 utility personnel left Monday for Gulfport and Biloxi. Mississippi officials said power was lost to as many as 90,000 customers when Gustav slashed through south Mississippi on Monday. The company also said utility crews based in Savannah were recalled to allow them to prepare for Hurricane Hanna. Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center said Hanna could turn toward the east coast of Florida, Georgia or South Carolina in the next few days.

(Associated Press)

Hurricane Watch: Tropical Storm Faye UPDATE

South Georgia could be in-line for some effects of Tropical Storm Fay. A hurricane watch is now posted for a 150-mile stretch of coastline from Florida to Georgia. The storm has followed an erratic path--forecasters say it could linger along the coast and pick-up strength before turning back toward Florida, and perhaps becoming a hurricane. Some projections right now indicate 10 to 20 inches of rain could fall over portions of southern Georgia.

Stay tuned to GPB for continuing updates on the storm on our radio network, and through our Georgia News blog accessed through our website--gpb.org

Perdue may call in feds over gas gouging

The dramatic spike in gas prices from Hurricane Ike has prompted The Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) to investigate hundreds of complaints of price gouging at the pump.

Officials have issued subpoenas for sales records of 25 gas stations statewide, and say more are on the way.

Bill Cloud, the director of administration and external affairs at the OCA says they've received over 700 complaints since Governor Sonny Perdue imposed an anti-gouging law last Friday.

But, Perdue says the skyrocketing numbers at the pump weren't only due to decisions by station owners :

"...[they] were the prices that some of the stations were having to pay up the line, and we're trying to investigate where that began and why, and what steps we should take – that probably would be outside of the purview of the State of Georgia, and while I’m a free-market guy, I certainly think it bears investigation by our federal government."

Perdue says Valdosta and Augusta were having the worst problems statewide in getting fuel from refineries knocked out by last week's hurricane.

Perdue and OCA officials, though, say the situation is improving and expect supply to be back to normal next week.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the gas crisis, and here for more on Hurricane Ike.

The Gulf Coast waits: Will it be another Katrina?

(NOAA report)

With a historic evacuation complete, and gun-toting police and National Guardsmen standing watch over this city's empty streets, even presidential politics stood still Sunday while the nation waited to see if Hurricane Gustav would be another Katrina.

The storm was set to crash ashore midday Monday with frightful force, testing the three years of planning and rebuilding that followed Katrina's devastating blow to the Gulf Coast.

Painfully aware of the failings that led to that horrific suffering and more than 1,600 deaths, this time, officials moved beyond merely insisting tourists and residents leave south Louisiana. They threatened arrest, loaded thousands onto buses and warned that anyone who remained behind would not be rescued.

"Looters will go directly to jail. You will not get a pass this time," Mayor Ray Nagin said. "You will not have a temporary stay in the city. You will go directly to the Big House."

Col. Mike Edmondson, state police commander, said he believed that 90 percent of the population had fled the Louisiana coast. The exodus of 1.9 million people is the largest evacuation in state history, and thousands more had left from Mississippi, Alabama and flood-prone southeast Texas.

Louisiana and Mississippi changed traffic flow so all highway lanes led away from the coast, and cars were packed bumper-to-bumper. Stores and restaurants shut down, hotels closed and windows were boarded up. Some who planned to stay changed their mind at the last second, not willing to risk the worst.

"I was trying to get situated at home. I was trying to get things so it would be halfway safe," said 46-year-old painter Jerry Williams, who showed up at the city's Union Station to catch one of the last buses out of town. "You're torn. Do you leave it and worry about it, or do you stay and worry about living?"

Click here for GPB News coverage of Georgia's plans for assisting evacuees.

Forecasters said Gustav was likely to grow stronger as it marched toward the coast with top sustained winds of around 115 mph. At 5 p.m. EDT Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said Gustav was a Category 3 storm centered about 215 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and moving northwest near 18 mph.

Against all warnings, some gambled and decided to face its wrath. On an otherwise deserted commercial block of downtown Lafayette, about 135 miles west of the city, Tim Schooler removed the awnings from his photography studio. He thought about evacuating Sunday before decided he was better off riding out the storm at home with his wife, Nona.

"There's really no place to go. All the hotels are booked up to Little Rock and beyond," he said. "We're just hoping for the best."

There were frightening comparisons between Gustav and Katrina, which flooded 80 percent of New Orleans when storm surge overtook the levees. While Gustav isn't as large as Katrina, which was a massive Category 5 storm at roughly the same place in the Gulf, there was no doubt the storm posed a major threat to a partially rebuilt New Orleans and the flood-prone coasts of Louisiana and southeast Texas. The storm has already killed at least 94 people on its path through the Caribbean.

(The Associated Press)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of Hurricane Gustav, and other recent stormy weather.

Evacuees waiting out Gustav in Ga.

About five hundred of the evacuees from Hurricane Gustav have taken refuge in Georgia. Some three hundred of them are being hosted at Villa Rica, west of Atlanta.

Many of the evacuees arrived at the center, not far from the Alabama state line, in convoys after an all-night drive.

Lisa Matheson of the Red Cross says they’re sheltering them in a gym at a local recreation center:

“This is where we have approximately 250 cots set up to take in the evacuees. We were very fortunate in this shelter, that we had several ancillary rooms where we could take the overflow to accommodate the nearly 300 people who are here.”

The evacuees are being given three meals a day, recreation facilities and medical assistance is they need it.

Villa Rica is one of six shelters the Red Cross has opened statewide, including Columbus, Dalton, La Grange, Lawrenceville and Tift County.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of Hurricane Gustav, and other severe weather.

Fort Benning, Columbus ready for Gustav's brunt

Fort Benning is mobilizing to support evacuation and medical efforts for storm-hit areas.

The Department of Defense has placed the infantry training base, along with five others in the southeas Federal Emergency Management Agency logistics staging areas for supplies and equipment.

Nearby, the Columbus branch of the American Red Cross says they have opened an emergency center for evacuees fleeing areas expecting to be hit by Hurricane Gustav sometime Monday.

The center is located at the Calvary Christian School on 7556 Old Moon Road.

Across the Chattahoochee River in Alabama, Russell County is also preparing, and has designated Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Phenix City as an emergency evacuation center.

Click here for more GPB News coverage on Hurricane Gustav.

Georgia pledges help for Hurricane Dean

Georgia is prepared to send National Guardsmen to Texas if Hurricane Dean hits that state. Dean is expected to move south of Texas toward Mexico, but Governor Sonny Perdue says that 40 guardsmen would deploy this week if the storm moves northward. Mr. Perdue also says he’s prepared to deploy Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters. Eight National Guardsmen are already in Austin, Texas helping with communications. Perdue says this is a chance for Georgia to help a nearby state, and to train soldiers responding to a big storm.

1-in-4 chance of a major hurricane strike

The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season begins today. Among those making predictions, a Savannah-based researcher says there's a one-in-four chance that Georgia could be hit by a major storm.

Chuck Watson's predictions are used by government agencies and insurance companies to prepare for loss of life and property. He says, computer models predict lower-than-normal, zero storm probabilities for June and November, but a higher-than-normal chance for October.

"If you look at this year, it looks like we're going to go into an El Nino cycle," Watson says. "But the downside is that Atlantic ocean temperatures are a bit warmer than normal."

Federal forecasters predict 14 named storms this year. Watson's predictions are month-to-month chances, based in part on statistical data by University of Central Florida researcher Mark Johnson. The pair stresses, even though some months have higher storm forecasts, storms can strike any time.

Audio: Chuck Watson describes the inevitability of a storm strike:

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Second Red Cross Shelter Opened for Victims of Hurricane Gustav

A second Red Cross shelter was opened at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lilburn on Tuesday for victims of Hurricane Gustav, after a shelter in Lawrenceville had reached capacity. A spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency said, about 800 people who evacuated from Gustav are staying in shelters across the state of Georgia.

Gas Stations in NW Georgia Limiting Fuel Purchases

Several leading fuel analysts believe gas prices will return to pre-Hurricane Ike levels beginning Tuesday. These predictions are based on returning supply as oil production gets back online in the Houston area.

However, in parts of Georgia, some gas station owners in Georgia say they expect new fuel supplies next week.

One east Rome gas station owner says "We just don't have the gas to last much longer."

Many stations in the Rome area are limiting purchases to five gallons. Most stations in the area are charging 3.99 a gallon.

Hurricane Ike is already being dubbed the forgotten storm. While damage to refineries has been lighter than expected, the total cost of Ike is projected to be over 22 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, criticism of FEMA is mounting as residents try to return home after Ike.

Perdue orders 'no' to gas price gouging

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has signed an executive order activating the state's price gouging statute to protect consumers from unreasonable price increases for gasoline because of Hurricane Ike. In a statement Friday night, the governor said the hurricane "has disrupted the production of distribution of gasoline, which will have an effect on prices." But, he added, "We expect the prices that Georgians pay at the pump to be in line with the prices retailers are paying. We will not tolerate retailers taking advantage of Georgians during a time of emergency." The statute prevents retailers from selling goods or services at an unreasonable price. It does not prevent price increases that accurately reflect an increase in the cost of the goods or services to the retailer.

(Associated Press)

State officials investigate gas price gouging

State officials are beginning to investigate complaints of price gouging at numerous gas stations across Georgia. This comes in the wake of Hurricane Ike’s trek through the Gulf and Texas over the weekend.

Through late this morning, the Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs says they had received 80 complaints of unreasonable spikes in prices since 7pm Friday. The calls have come in from all parts of the state, and about different companies’ stations.

Early Friday night, the Governor issued an executive order against price gouging. Its aim is to make sure the prices people are paying are in-line with what retailers pay. Over the weekend some drivers around the state saw spikes of over $5.00 a gallon at certain stations, along with some stations running out of gas.

According to the AAA fuel gauge report this morning , the average price in Georgia for a gallon of regular unleaded was $4.16--a rise of 16-cents from Sunday.

The brunt of Hurricane Ike missed the biggest concentration of oil and gas refineries in the Gulf, with damage not as severe as feared. Experts predict gas prices to stabilize this week.

U.S. Coast Guard battens down Ga. ports awaiting Hanna

This NOAA graphic shows the expected five-day storm path of tropical storm Hanna on Friday, Sept. 5, 2008. Click graphic for larger image.

The U.S. Coast Guard has closed the ports of Savannah and Brunswick to inbound vessels because of Tropical Storm Hanna.

This infrared satellite image provided by the NOAA show tropical storm Hanna moving over the Bahamas on Friday, Sept. 5, 2008. Click photo for larger image.

The National Weather Service issued tropical storm warnings Friday for the East Coast from Georgia to Virginia. The storm's center was expected to make landfall along the coast of the Carolinas early Saturday morning.

The Coast Guard said in a news release Friday that the ports will be assessed after the storm has passed to determine whether it's safe for traffic to resume.

In South Carolina, the State Ports Authority plans to close the Port of Charleston to land traffic at noon Friday. The Coast Guard has urged all vessels and barges weighing more than 500 gross tons to leave as soon as possible.

This NOAA image shows tropical storm Hanna heading toward the Atlantic coast and hurricane Ike churning further east over the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, Sept. 5, 2008. Click photo for larger image.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of hurricane season.

(The Associated Press)

'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.