Hermine Leaving Georgia, Heading to South Carolina

More than 90,000 Georgians were at least temporarily out of power as Tropical Storm Hermine blew through the state Friday. But, for the most part, emergency officials were breathing a sigh of relief.

By mid-afternoon Friday, Hermine was heading into the lowcountry of South Carolina, with Peach State officials attributing no deaths or major structural damage to the storm.

At 2 p.m., the storm's center was sitting about 30 miles north-northwest of Savannah.

It was moving northeast at about 18 mph as it continued on its predicted path into the Carolinas.

By Friday afternoon, maximum winds from Hermine had settled at about 50 mph, down from the 75 mph winds that had made Hermine a Category One hurricane when it made landfall in Florida overnight.

While the storm's power had eased from a day earlier, forecasters say that the storm likely will pick up strength again late Friday and Saturday, when its center reaches the Atlantic Ocean.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Hermine is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 5 to 10 inches over parts of northwest Florida and southern Georgia through Friday, with possible isolated maximum amounts of 20 inches.

By 4 p.m. Friday, more than 90,000 customers had lost power in the state, according to Georgia Power's outage map. Most of the active outages by Friday afternoon were in and around Savannah and Brunswick.

Director of Georgia Emergency Management Agency Jim Butterworth told the Associated Press Friday afternoon that no deaths or major structural incidents had been reported as a result of the storm.

Ahead of the storm on Thursday, Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency for 56 south Georgia counties in the storm's path.

The state of emergency went into effect at noon Thursday and lasts until midnight Saturday.

"Georgia is expected to receive severe weather related to Tropical Storm Hermine through Saturday," Deal said in a news release. "We are working to ensure counties in south, central and coastal Georgia have access to the state resources necessary to prepare and respond when Tropical Storm Hermine enters Georgia.
"Our Emergency Operations Command will continue closely monitoring this storm and additional counties may be included in this declaration as needed."

The declaration includes the following counties: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Echols, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Glynn, Grady, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Liberty, Long, Lowndes, McIntosh, Mitchell, Montgomery, Pierce, Richmond, Screven, Seminole, Tattnall, Telfair, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Ware, Wayne, Wheeler, Wilcox and Worth.

Images via National Hurricane Center