Hurricane Irma: UGA Makes Decision On Classes, Operations (UPDATED)

ATHENS, GA -- The University of Georgia will close its campus and cancel classes for Monday, Sept. 11 and Tuesday, Sept. 12 due to the threat Hurricane Irma poses to the Peach State, the university said in a message posted on its website.

Students should note that all university residence halls will remain open, the school said. On-campus housing residents should contact their respective community front desk or resident advisor with any questions or concerns they may have.

All dining halls will remain open, and the campus transit system will proceed with normal operations "unless weather conditions make it unsafe to do so," UGA added (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app).

The university is encouraging its students, faculty, staff and parents to visit emergency.uga.edu to view the latest updates, it notes.

According to the National Weather Service's noon briefing, the Category 4 hurricane is pounding Cuba's north coast and is expected to regain strength as it churns towards South Florida and the Keys. Irma is currently packing sustained winds of 125 mph and is moving west at 9 miles an hour. The current track shows it's shifted a little more to the west, meaning that the current forecast track puts the center point of the path more along the panhandle side of Florida early Sunday morning into Georgia where it is expected to continue curving west.

NWS states most of Georgia will begin seeing tropical storm-force winds on Monday, with sustained winds at 25-40 miles an hour and higher gusts as the bands push through.

The state is expected to get inches of rain and experience isolating flooding. Additionally, the risk of tornadic activity will be along and to the east of the bands. NWS notes that any tornadoes that develop will be "fast moving and rain wrapped, making them hard to see.

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Image via National Weather Service