Hurricane Irma: Atlanta Rolls Out Red Carpet For Evacuees

ATLANTA, GA — Even as it prepares for the dangerous and deadly Hurricane Irma as it heads inland, 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. The behemoth storm is expected to make landfall in Florida Saturday night or early Sunday morning, then tear up the Georgia coast, where 30 coastal counties are under mandatory evacuation orders.

The outer bands of a storm described as “nuclear” have already hit Florida, offering a menacing look at what’s ahead. Atlanta residents were bracing for flooding as the area prepares for up to 5 inches of rain and wind gusts of 60 mph from the massive weather system, at one point in its angry life a Category 5 storm stronger than any Atlantic storm in history. The deluges are expected Monday and Tuesday.

Winds of 60 mph are considered damaging winds capable to snapping power poles, uprooting trees and generally wreak havoc, and Atlantans were told to prepare for for several days without power or water. Those heeding the warning were shopping for essentials.

Hurricane Irma: Coastal Georgia Could Take Direct Hit; Entire State May Be Affected

Melissa Echeverria, who was shopping at a Kroger store, told WAGA-TV she found some of the nonperishable items she needed at a neighborhood Kroger store, but not no bottled water.

But as Georgia’s neighbors to the south scrambled to put up storm shutters and safeguard their properties, Saturday was a mild, sunny day in Atlanta, and the evening game was shaping up to be a perfect night for baseball as the Braves and Marlins played the third in a four-game series beginning at 7 p.m. The final game is at 1:35 p.m. Sunday.

“We know how difficult it has been for those who have had to pack up and leave their homes as Hurricane Irma approaches,” Derek Schiller, Braves president of business said in a press release announcing the free tickets. “We hope we can help take their mind off the storm for a few hours by coming to enjoy a baseball game at SunTrust Park.”

Other freebies for evacuees included tickets to the Georgia Tech-Jacksonville State football game Saturday afternoon, the Kenesaw State-Tennessee Tech football game Saturday night, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. If sports wasn’t their thing, evacuees could drink beer and eat food on the Goose Island Beer Company, which is celebrating Migration Week, or take in the Lantern Parade, a huge event that draws tens of thousands.

The Atlanta Motor Speedway in the Atlanta suburb of Hampton opened its RV and tent campgrounds to evacuees, including something almost as welcome as the free space to ride out the storm — access to hot showers and restroom facilities.

Jews fleeing Irma are finding shelter at Atlanta’s synagogues, The Times of Israel reported. Rabbi Adam Starr had just returned from Houston, where he helped a colleague clean up after Hurricane Harvey turned the city of 2.3 million into a fast-rising swamp, when Jews from Florida started calling his Atlanta synagogue frantic to find a safe haven.

“We were starting to get inquiries about Irma — two, three, four people asking about coming for Shabbat,” Star said. “We realized, this is going to be a real need, and instead of dealing with a one-off, let’s open our community.”

Airbnb told Patch that it had activated its Disaster Response Program in metro Atlanta, which means that local homes could be booked for free.

The free lodgings program will be in effect until Sept. 28 for displaced people and relief workers deployed to help, Airbnb spokeswoman Crystal Davis told Patch. Days ago, the program was implemented only in South Georgia near the Florida line.

The American Red Cross said that more than 1,185 Floridians and Geogians had flocked to 13 shelters in Georgia, including one in Macon, where Alexandra Puentes and her four children, ages 8 to 14 years, who fled their Brunswick, Georgia, home on Friday found a safe haven.

“The helpfulness and kindness of the Red Cross shelter workers has been outstanding,” Puentes said, according to a press release. "We will be ready to face the future when the storm has passed."

The Red Cross said its Safe and Well website is a free public reunification tool that allows individuals and organizations to register and post messages to indicate that they are safe, or to search for loved ones. The site is always available and open to the public and available in Spanish. Registrations and searches can be done directly on the website. Registrations can also be completed by texting SAFE to 78876. Messages exist in both Spanish and English. To speak with someone at the American Red Cross concerning a missing friend or relative, please contact (800) Red Cross.

Photo: Heavy traffic traveling northbound on Interstate 75 south of Atlanta moves slowly, during a major evacuation for Hurricane Irma. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)