Hurricane Michael aims for Florida, NE Ga braces for rain

There is a flash flood watch in effect for Athens and northeast Georgia through at least 2 o’clock Thursday afternoon: there is rain on the way, associated with the powerful Hurricane Michael that is closing in on the Florida Gulf coast.

Governor Nathan Deal issues a preemptive state of emergency declaration for 92 counties, mostly in south and central Georgia, as Hurricane Matthew aims for the Gulf coast of panhandle Florida. Georgia's biggest threat from the storm: rain and flooding.

From the National Weather Service in Peachtree City…

Baldwin-Banks-Barrow-Bartow-Bibb-Bleckley-Butts-Carroll-Catoosa-Chattahoochee-Chattooga-Cherokee-Clarke-Clayton-Cobb-Coweta-Crawford-Crisp-Dade-Dawson-DeKalb-Dodge-Dooly-Douglas-Emanuel-Fannin-Fayette-Floyd-Forsyth-Gilmer-Glascock-Gordon-Greene-Gwinnett-Hall-Hancock-Haralson-Harris-Heard-Henry-Houston-Jackson-Jasper-Jefferson-Johnson-Jones-Lamar-Laurens-Lumpkin-Macon-Madison-Marion-Meriwether-Monroe-Montgomery-Morgan-Murray-Muscogee-Newton-North Fulton-Oconee-Oglethorpe-Paulding-Peach-Pickens-Pike-Polk-Pulaski-Putnam-Rockdale-Schley-South Fulton-Spalding-Stewart-Sumter-Talbot-Taliaferro-Taylor-Telfair-Toombs-Towns-Treutlen-Troup-Twiggs-Union-Upson-Walker-Walton-Warren-Washington-Webster-Wheeler-White-Whitfield-Wilcox-Wilkes-Wilkinson-1217 AM EDT Wed Oct 10 2018 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of North and Central Georgia. .DAY ONE...Rest of Tonight... Isolated thunderstorms are possible across portions of north and centralGeorgia through the overnight hours. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday... ...Tropical Storm Warnings and a Hurricane Watch is in effect forportions of Central Georgia through Thursday morning... Hurricane Michael is a major hurricane and is expected to makelandfall along the Florida panhandle Wednesday. Michael will thenaccelerate northeast, crossing central and southern GeorgiaWednesday night into Thursday morning. During the height of the storm, sustained winds of 25 to 45 mph willbe possible with gusts around 60 mph across portions of centralGeorgia, with the strongest winds roughly along and south of aColumbus to Macon to Sandersville line. Widespread rainfallamounts of 3 to 5 inches are expected, with the potential forlocally higher amounts of 5 to 7 inches. An elevated risk oflocalized flash flooding exists due to the heavy rain potential.Some brief weak tornadoes are possible as well mainly southeast ofa line from Americus to Dublin to Waynesboro.