SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) – Great uncertainty remained Friday about Hurricane Irma’s path beyond Florida with forecasts showing potential storm impacts from portions of the Carolinas and Alabama as well as the entirety of Georgia, a state that’s become an escape route for hundreds of thousands of evacuees.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal noted Irma’s unpredictability at a news conference in Atlanta Friday after the National Hurricane Center nudged the storm’s predicted track significantly westward. Regardless, Deal stuck by his evacuation order issued a day earlier for Georgia’s nearly 540,000 coastal residents to leave beginning Saturday morning.
“This is a rapidly moving hurricane and the weather and the consequences of that hurricane can change dramatically within a short period of time,” Deal said. He did not immediately call for any evacuations beyond Georgia’s coast, but urged coastal residents: “Help us help you. Don’t take chances.”
The official forecast track Friday afternoon showed Irma churning up the Florida peninsula over the weekend before crossing the Georgia-Florida line Monday far inland from the coast.
But forecasters built in substantial room for error, saying Irma could rake Florida’s east coast on a northward path over the Atlantic Ocean toward Savannah at the Georgia-South Carolina line. Or the storm could veer further west and cross the Florida Panhandle into Alabama.