Lee Co. EMA prepares for Idalia’s impacts

LEESBURG, Ga. – Lee County issued a Flood Watch Tuesday morning for the impending impact from Idalia, but emergency management has been getting updates from the National Weather Service throughout the day.

I was able to briefly catch up with Lee Co. EMA Director, Coleman Williams about the plans that are in place.

With Idalia gaining strength, more counties are issuing warnings, whether they’re hurricane, tropical storm, or even flood warnings.

And, Lee County has been no exception.

“Right now we’re in contact with the National Weather Service, and we’re steady monitoring everything that they’re putting out. Trying to find out whether the storm is going to shift east or west at this time,” said Coleman Williams, EMA director, Lee County.

While Lee County will not be nearly as effected, they’ve been just as busy monitoring the path of the storm, as its trajectory could still change even before its landfall in Florida.

And, it’s not just rainfall totals they’re looking at.

“We are having to watch and see what the wind-speeds will be and what they project to put out, ” said Williams.

And, with Lee County is only expecting around to to four inches of rain at this time, EMA is confident that the county will not see any major damage from Idalia.

“Also we’re going to continue to monitor, right now it’s showing us with anywhere from two to four inches of rain, which shouldn’t cause any problem to us at all…” said Williams.

And, of course with the latest updates from the National Weather Service, counties that are east of Lee and Dougherty county have already declared a tropical storm warning as Idalia makes landfall Wednesday morning.

Brian Roche reporting.

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