Preparation under way for Hurricane Ian; storm expected to hit central Florida Wednesday night
Sep. 27—ALBANY — Cleaning ditches and storm drains, fueling up the dump trucks and chainsaws, and filling a few sandbags were all part of the day's work getting ready for whatever Hurricane Ian throws at southwest Georgia.
With the memory of the monster storm Hurricane Michael on their minds, the news that the storm is looking to track farther to the east than originally forecast was making local officials a little less jittery.
"From what I see, we're expecting a little bit of wind, a good bit of rain," city of Albany Public Works Director Stacey Rowe said. "It's like I'm telling my employees; you don't need to panic, but you need to be prepared."
Workers with the city and Dougherty County were busy on Tuesday making those preparations.
"We're cleaning catch basins, storm lines, cleaning all that," Rowe said. "We're sweeping streets. We're cleaning out all of our pipes. We're making sure our holding ponds are ready. We're getting them pumped down so they can hold as much as possible."
With southwest Georgia predicted to be on the western side of the storm, the expectations are that the powerful hurricane will not cause as much damage as initially feared.
"I was concerned," Rowe said. "I'll be honest, I was scared on Saturday when it was showing it was going to (track) like Michael. Things are looking very much better for us. I feel for the people who are in the path."
As of Tuesday afternoon, Ian's sustained winds had increased to almost 120 miles per hour, with stronger gusts, and it had been upgraded to a category 3 hurricane, according to a National Hurricane Center advisory issued at 2 p.m. The agency said it expects the storm to strengthen through Wednesday and approach Florida's west coast Wednesday night as an "extremely dangerous hurricane."
The latest tracking shows Ian hitting the coast along the central part of Florida at about 8 p.m. Wednesday and then heading northeast across the state.
Like his counterpart with the city, Dougherty County's Public Works Director Chucky Mathis was all about being prepared.
"One of the first things we did, we had a meeting with the managers to discuss some of the possibilities we could expect if the system does come this way," he said. "We have looked at our fuel supply, because we supply fuel for all of our vehicles — EMS, police, library, everybody.
"We have talked with our fuel vendor. We are going to be getting our fuel tanks topped off."
Prior to the storm, the department will make sure all emergency vehicles and road equipment have fuel tanks. Chainsaws and other equipment needed in the event of downed trees also are ready to go if needed.
County workers also have positioned pumps in low-lying areas of unincorporated Dougherty County in the event they're needed.
On Tuesday county employees also cleaned a large canal that drains from south Albany to the Flint River.
"We're going to make sure that canal is cleaned out," Mathis said.
