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Bibb County's emergency departments prepare ahead of Hurricane Michael

EMA Director Spencer Hawkins urges everyone in Bibb County to stay indoors until Michael passes through.

As Hurricane Michael makes its way to Bibb County, Emergency Management Agency Director Spencer Hawkins urges everyone to stay indoors.

"Where you're gonna eat dinner tonight is where you need to be throughout the storm until breakfast tomorrow night, so once again, an overnight storm, stay in. There's no need to be out," Hawkins said.

He's expecting the storm to make a major impact in Bibb County.

"Maximum sustained winds are at 150 miles per hour. This is the first category 4 storm that has ever made landfall since they started keeping records in 1851," Hawkins said.

Hawkins is mostly concerned with wind speeds and tornadoes in Central Georgia. He expects there to be some damage.

"You can expect to see some damages to roofs, trees down blocked roads, because of significant debris as well as power and communication outages," Hawkins said.

County spokesman Chris Floore says they're putting everything in place to respond as quickly and efficiently as they can for the storm.

"Right now, the activity is more along the lines of gassing up the trucks, making sure equipment works, and we're staging crews around the county to prepare for once that storm passes, they can immediately begin clearing the roads," Floore said.

Sheriff David Davis said his department will be on the lookout.

"We have extra patrols that are going to be out tonight. We have inmate work crews that are going to be out, but the thing that we want to stress is to stay off the roads. Unlike Irma that came through in the middle of the day, this one is going to come in the middle of the day, this one is going to come in the middle of the night," Davis said.

Macon-Bibb government will be closed Thursday. Hawkins says they need that time to assess damage.

"This will allow our crews the amount of time to get out there and do our damage assessment, do any potential debris removal and make sure that once again the roads are safe before you go out and do your damage assessment," Hawkins said.

Craig Ross from Macon Transit Authority said they will not operate on Thursday, but they should be up and running by 5:20 a.m.. on Friday.

The American Red Cross is opening the South Bibb Recreation Center at 7035 Houston Road for anyone seeking shelter.

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