Hurricane Irma: University of West Ga. Makes Decision On Classes

CARROLLTON, GA -- Another Georgia university has announced it will shutter operations due to Hurricane Irma barreling towards the Peach State. The University of Georgia, located in Carrollton, will close Monday, Sept. 11 and Tuesday, Sept. 12, the school said early Saturday evening on its website. Along with classes, all events and activities on these two days will be cancelled due to the beast making its way to the Florida Keys.

A decision on the status of classes and operations for Wednesday, Sept. 13 will be made by 5 p.m. Tuesday, the school added. University residence halls will be open only for on-campus residents, and more information will be dispatched through the University Housing and Residence Life Department.

Additionally, the East Commons dining hall will remain open, and UWG's campus transit will continue normal operations until weather conditions "make it unsafe to do so," the college said. UWG stakeholders should note that designated employees -- those who've been identified as necessary to the operations and maintenance of the campus -- are expected to report to work on time, unless conditions prevent safe travel to Carrollton.

Students, parents and UWG faculty and staff members are encouraged to visit the UWG emergency alerts website for additional details and up-to-date information regarding the closures (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app).

Hurricane Irma is steamrolling toward western Florida and expected to hit Georgia as a tropical storm, but its westward jog has lifted some of the pressure off the Savannah area, where some mandatory evacuations have been eased. Meanwhile, neonatal patients were moved out of Savannah to Augusta hospitals, there doesn't seem to be a hotel left in Atlanta, and the University of Georgia is also 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.

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 Georgia will see tropical storm-force winds, with sustained winds at 25-40 miles an hour and gusts from 45 to 60 miles an hour as the bands push through.

The state is expected to get anywhere between 3 to 7 inches rain and experience isolated 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