By BONNIE SAYLES
and
FRANK SAYLES JR.
Tifton Grapevine
As
Hurricane Dorian
ambles up along the East Coast,
evacuees
and
utility workers
have filled
Tifton's hotels
, officials say.
"All
major hotels
are
full
with a
wait list,
"
Tyron Spearman
, Tifton-Tift County Tourism director, said late
Tuesday afternoon
.
Spearman
said it is
difficult
to
estimate
the number of
evacuees
in town because there are also many
utility crews
here from elsewhere
awaiting
Dorian's
impact
and possible
power outages
along the
coast
.
"We have a (utility)
team
from
Nebraska
with their
trucks
here,"
Spearman
added.
The only real
effect
of
Hurricane Dorian
in the
Tiftarea
is expected to be the number of evacuees and visitors. According to the
Tift County Emergency Management
Agency
, "our
area
is
under no threat
of
severe weather
or
flooding
."
Nancy and Greg Walsh
from
Cocoa Fla.
, near
Cape Canaveral
, are among the folks who have fled to
Tifton
, along with their
two dogs Tico and Kita
, to escape the storm. They chose
Tifton
, they said, because it has the
closest dog-friendly hotel
they had found in
Georgia
.
On
Tuesday
, the
Walshes
and their dogs visited
Tifton’s Dog Park
at
Fulwood Park
.
“This is a
nice park
,”
Nancy Walsh
told the
Tifton Grapevine
. Asked how they found it, she replied,
“Googled it.”
They said they are used to a
two-acre dog park
that opened five years ago in their
town
, where the dog owners have become friends and meet up each morning to walk and talk. Other
evacuees
with
dogs
, including one from
West Palm Beach
, have also
discovered
Tifton's
new
Dog Park
.
Coastal Georgians
have also begun
fleeing inland
as Gov.
Brian Kemp
issued a
mandatory evacuation
of Georgia's coast
east of Interstate Highway 95
. The
Ga. Department of Transportation
has instituted
"contraflow"
on
Interstate 16
from
Savannah
through
U.S. 441
in
Dublin
to allow
evacuation traffic
the opportunity to use
all four lanes
of
I-16
in the
westbound
direction.
The
hurricane
has also disrupted
Tiftarea Academy's varsity football schedule
. This
Friday's game
against
Frederica Academy
of
St. Simons Island
has been
cancelled
. Because of the
mandatory evacuation
, the
coastal school
is temporarily closed.
