EOC hosts hurricane update meeting

CHIPLEY - A meeting was held Thursday morning at the Washington County Emergency Operations Center for county officials and employees to review the updated information on the steadily approaching hurricanes, Gustav and Hannah, along with the three additional tropical depressions, two of which are slowly developing into Category 1 hurricanes.

One storm is in the Bay of Campeche, where Hurricane Opal developed, and two are coming from the African coast.

EMS Director Roger Dale Hagan hosted the meeting, and some of those attending were Jerry Brock, head of 911 dispatch and County Commissioner Jerry Sapp.

The meeting covered the location of Gustav, the hurricane’s estimated time of arrival and went over plans for keeping an eye on the storms over the weekend.

From the tracking chart, it seems that Hurricane Gustav will be pushed west by a front over the Appalachians, although Washington County will still receive heavy rains and for

The ETA of Tropical Hannah is still unknown, since the latest update puts the location still miles from the shoreline by late Tuesday evening. It appears to be headed into the Atlantic, but could always cut back into Florida. Hagan said projections are for Hannah to be a hurricane by Sunday. “It’s not a threat at this time,” he said.

Hagan told the Washington County Board of County Commissioners Thursday afternoon that there was a 20-30 percent chance of impact from Gustav in the area, including tropical storm-force winds, according to a “webinar” done by the state. Current projections called for Gustav to hit Louisiana, but the storm was “wobbling” and there was always a possibility it could impact on the Panhandle.

Hagan noted that one way or another the Panhandle would be on the north or east side of the storm. “That’s the bad side,” Hagan said. He also said the possible 3-5 inches of rain, “is probably something we can handle very well. More rain could be a problem. The rivers should not be a problem.”

Hagan asked the public to be patient with the road department that has an unlimited number of roads and limited resources to handle bad weather. “Calling three times a day about the same road does not get the road fixed any sooner,” he said.

Weather updates at www.chipleypaper.com.

Jay Felsberg contributed to this article.