ALBANY – The streets were soaked and whipped by wind here Monday morning as Hurricane Irma crept into Georgia. Unlike elsewhere in the storm’s path, electricity remained on all around the downtown area, and Georgia Power wasn’t reporting widespread outages.
But the forecast said the worst was still yet to come at 7 a.m., with the eye of the newly-weakened storm still sliding over the Florida Panhandle. Here, officials urged residents to stay sheltered throughout the day, a warning that was apparently heeded.
The roads all around were deserted. The civic center and other makeshift shelters were setup around the city. The civic center remained loaded with evacuees who decided to flee their homes after seeing the devastation in a series of January tornadoes, which destroyed homes and a massive mobile home park, leaving hundreds homeless and killing four.
The city also lives with memories of 1994’s Tropical Storm Alberto, which caused historic flooding along the Flint River, killing 31 people in Georgia, including several who drowned here in Dougherty County.
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