Local EMA officials monitoring Irma, still much uncertainty regarding its path

Coffee County emergency officials and community partners are closely monitoring the progression of Hurricane Irma. Although it is currently a Category 5 storm it is expected to weaken significantly before approaching north Florida and South Georgia. Over 40 local personnel attended a National Weather Service Webinar and briefing in the Coffee County Emergency Operations Center on Wednesday afternoon with more to follow as the storm progresses. Officials will work to notify everyone as conditions change.

With the storm several days away beware of social media stories predicting the path of “Irma,” fuel shortages, etc. A lot of uncertainty exists at the present time on the path it will take. Emergency officials have spoken to several fuel suppliers in our area and have been assured that the outages at some stations is a result of increased demand on the trucks transporting the fuel not a shortage of fuel.

At the present time, the South Georgia BBQ & Outdoor Festival and events scheduled for this weekend in the City of Douglas to continue as planned.No school closings are planned at this time.

Shelters are not open in Douglas or Coffee County and future openings will be dependent upon the track of the storm.

Please continue to monitor the storm on trusted sites such as www.weather.gov/jax and the wwww.nhc.noaa.gov and through your local news agencies.