Hurricane Irma: LATEST UPDATE, SATURDAY Latest Need-To-Know Facts

ATLANTA, GA — Hurricane Irma is sending strong winds and rain across southern Florida and expected to hit Georgia as a tropical storm Sunday night, but its westward jog has lifted some of the pressure off the Savannah area, where some mandatory evacuations were eased. Meanwhile, Atlanta has welcomed an influx of visitors, there doesn't seem to be a hotel left in Atlanta, and the University of Georgia is closing as officials heed warnings about the Category 4 storm.

Parts of the Savannah area remain under a mandatory evacuation order. Evacuees can find Red Cross shelters open in Macon, Waycross, Augusta and Alpharetta; gas supplies around the Atlanta area are tight but an app can find stations with gas; and tropical storm-force winds are expected to blow into south Georgia by 8 p.m. Sunday and the metro Atlanta area by 8 a.m. Monday. (Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

SEE ALSO: Hurricane Irma Trek Likely To Batter Georgia With Wind, Rain, Coastal Storm Surge

Here are the latest need-to-know facts. Share this with your neighbors on Facebook and Twitter:

• Atlanta Rolls Out Red Carpet For Evacuees: Atlanta is rolling out the red carpet with courtesies like free Atlanta Braves-Miami Marlins tickets for evacuees from the Georgia coast and Florida who are flooding the city to get out of the vicious storm’s cone.
• Atlanta Braces, Accepts Evacuees: People in Atlanta are filling up their cars with gas, stocking up at grocery stores and some are opening their homes to evacuees from Florida, which is expected to be engulfed by Irma Sunday morning. While the roads are packed with cars, many locals are accepting evacuees. If not into their homes, then at least into their town.
• Georgia Braces For Irma's Punch: By the time now-category 3 Hurricane Irma reaches Georgia it should have petered out to a tropical storm system that could wreak havoc for the Monday commute in Atlanta. But portions of the state are now under a flash flood watch.
• UGA Makes Decision On Classes, Operations: The University of Georgia will close its campus and cancel classes for Monday, Sept. 11, due to the threat Hurricane Irma poses to the Peach State. The university said that a decision about Sept. 12 operations and classes will be made by noon on Monday.
• List of Shelters For People and Their Pets: State officials have opened more shelters in the Waycross, Augusta and Columbus areas for residents, plus Alpharetta and Cartersville facilities are taking in evacuees. Find a list, including shelters accepting pets.

You may also want to read about the potential for widespread power outages; nearly a dozen Atlanta-area mosques are welcoming evacuees; a Florida family was in a fender bender in Decatur and their cat escaped in the commotion; some schools have closed and those in the Atlanta metro are waiting; store shelves in Decatur were hit hard by shoppers; 100 animals from Florida brought to Atlanta through rescue efforts; how to plan for your pet's care during the storm; the main Florida escape routes cut through Georgia; animal-welfare authorities in Gwinnett County are taking in dozens of displaced animals; and a look back at the worst storms to hit Georgia.

Photo by Patch Editor Kristal Dixon.