Story highlights Waves crashing over seawall in Charleston

Atlanta's airport remains open

(CNN) Irma dropped to tropical storm status Monday but is still very much a danger as it rumbles north over the Florida-Georgia line and into the Deep South after lashing most of the Sunshine State.

With sustained winds of 65 mph and centered about 70 miles east of Tallahassee, Irma is carrying its fierce winds and battering rain over southern Georgia.

More than 340,000 customers in Georgia had no electricity, Georgia Power said, and forecasters expect tropical storm-force winds and flash foods to hammer the state well into Tuesday, spurring creeks to rise, trees to topple and streets to flood.

Ahead of the worst of the storm, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency throughout the state and many school systems shut down for the day.

Another tree over Hwy 82 as we head east toward Brunswick. #StormWatchOn2 @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/OPq263wUoz — Chris Jose (@ChrisJoseWSB) September 11, 2017

The forecast track has the center of the storm moving near the northwestern coast of the Florida peninsula on Monday morning, crossing the eastern Florida Panhandle into southern Georgia on Monday afternoon. It will weaken slowly in the coming hours and will likely become a tropical depression on Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said.

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