Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017

ATLANTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has expanded the state of emergency to include all 159 counties in Georgia, now including 65 additional counties including Richmond, Columbia, and McDuffie Counties.

Following a briefing from officials and visit with emergency responders, Gov. Deal will hold a news conference tonight at the State Operations Center at 6 p.m.

Saturday, September 9, 2017

ATLANTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- Acting on a recommendation from the state's Emergency Operations Command and in agreement with the Chatham County Emergency Management Agency and following Hurricane Irma’s further shift westward, Gov. Nathan Deal today issued an executive order altering the emergency declaration for Chatham County.

Zone B and C in Chatham County will be moving to a voluntary evacuation order.

The mandatory evacuation order issued by Gov. Deal remains in effect for all of Zone A throughout the coastal region. Due to the lack of traffic using contraflow, the Georgia Department of Transportation is removing contraflow operations on Interstate 16 by 4 p.m. today, returning normal traffic configurations for both east and westbound travel lanes.

This allows the state to relocate our resources being used for contraflow and transition them westward.

Friday, Sept. 8, 2017

(WRDW/WAGT) -- New counties in Georgia are included in the state of emergency.

Following a recommendation from Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA/HS) officials ahead of Hurricane Irma’s imminent landfall, Gov. Nathan Deal today expanded the state of emergency to include a total of 94 counties.

Local counties included on the state of emergency are Jefferson, Washington, Burke, Emanuel, Jenkins and Screven.

In light of the storm’s forecasted track shifting west, which will bring hurricane force winds, rain and potential flooding, 64 additional counties are now under the emergency declaration. Mandatory evacuations for coastal areas east of I-95 and all of Chatham County remain in place and contraflow on I-16 will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday.

The additional counties include: Baker, Baldwin, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Bleckley, Brooks, Calhoun, Chattahoochee, Clay, Colquitt, Cook, Crawford, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Early, Grady, Harris, Houston, Irwin, Johnson, Jones, Lamar, Lanier, Laurens, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Marion, Meriwether, Miller, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, Muscogee, Peach, Pike, Pulaski, Quitman, Randolph, Schley, Seminole, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Troup, Turner, Twiggs, Upson, Webster, Wheeler, Wilcox, Wilkinson and Worth Counties.

A state of emergency now exists in the following 94 counties: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Bleckley, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Calhoun, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clay, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crawford, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Early, Echols, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Glynn, Grady, Harris, Houston, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Lamar, Lanier, Laurens, Lee, Liberty, Long, Lowndes, Macon, Marion, McIntosh, Meriwether, Miller, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, Muscogee, Peach, Pierce, Pike, Pulaski, Quitman, Randolph, Schley, Seminole, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Tattnall, Taylor, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Troup, Turner, Twiggs, Upson, Ware, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wheeler, Wilcox, Wilkinson and Worth Counties.