cjzydeco
Weather Guru
Reged:
Posts: 120
Loc: Sebastian, FL
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Re: longer look
Wed Jul 19 2006 05:39 AM
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It's important to have an evacuation plan, no matter what part of the coast you live in. In Georgia, housing codes are not what they are in Florida, so unless you know how high you are and are confident that your house is up to hurricane code, you would well be advised to know exactly what you plan to do when a warning is posted in your area.
The Georgia coast consists of large series of oblong barrier islands (not long and skinny like the OBX) separated from the mainland by several miles of salt mash and strong tidal rivers. The inhabited islands are accessed from the mainland by long causeways that are several miles in length. On my last visit, the three most populated islands (Tybee, St Simons/Sea Island, and Jekyll) each had only one major road on/off the island, but all of these are new, raised, and widened  . Still, evacuations are going to put a tremdous load on these exits. In addition, if you plan to stay and ride out the storm on one of these islands (not advised), chances are the causeway may be damaged during the storm -- even a minor one. You had better be prepared to fend for youself for at least 2 weeks with no power or running water or supplies from the mainland.
Unfortunately, once you're off the island, the westward evacuation routes in this area have not been expanded enough to handle increasing populations over recent years. I'm not saying that they haven't been exapnded, there's just alot of worry that the roads haven't been expanded enough to handle the load. You gotta remember, even when you get off the islands, the surrounding coastal area may be only a few feet above MSL for 20-30 miles inland. And a lot of these inland areas have homes and communities in surge/flood prone areas that are NOT up off the ground like they should be. All these people have to evacuate, as well.
Obviously, there is I-16 going west out of Savannah (which will become one-way during an evac), but farther south, you have only minor state and federal highways that don't really go anywhere, which makes it awfully hard to find a hotel. During an evacuation, don't plan on being able to use I-95 or US 17 to go north or south if the storm is out in the Atlantic. More than likely, half of Florida will already be filling up these roads from evacuations as the storm swung by the northern part of the state on its way to Georgia. These types of scenarios have been examined based on current infrastracture and populations, and a due-west route is about all the state patrol is going to let you do anyway.
You can plan your Georgia evacuation by visiting http://www.georgia-navigator.com/hurricane/
One thing to remember: if you pick the route towards the largest population center (i.e.from Brunswick, if you take US 82/SR 520 towards Tifton verses SR 32 through Alma and on to Douglas) you may have a lot more heavy traffic. However, on the other route, you may have tremendous trouble finding a place to stay since there are only a handful of tiny tiny tiny motels. You may want to spend an afternoon driving your route of choice and scouting motels. Write down the phone number and address and keep it in a safe place so you can quickly make reservations if you ever need to evacuate.
Hurricane DO strike this area. I grew up on St SImons and have vivid memories playing in the fresh water from an artesian well right in the middle of the beach. The well was once in the BACK YARD of a house on Postel Avenue. The road and alomst every house on the road were washed into the ocean during a hurricane in the 1940's.
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Frances '04, Jeanne '04, Wilma '05, Ernesto '06, Faye '08, Hermine '16, Irma '17, Michael '18, Idalia '23, Helene '24
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