Gordon County and Calhoun public safety, public works, recreation and school systems participated in a weather briefing today with the National Weather Service (NWS) in reference to severe weather that is being forecast for Gordon County.
While there is some potential for a smaller event or storm on Friday evening the “main event” as they called it will happen Saturday evening into the morning on Sunday. For that time period Gordon County is at a Level 3 out of 5 rating to receive severe weather. This could include damaging winds from 60-80 miles per hour, possible strong, long track tornadoes and an elevated flood risk with amounts of 2-3 inches falling in a short period of time in heavier cells. Timing for this event in Gordon County has not been narrowed down as much as it will be by tomorrow, but as of now, the earliest arrival is forecast to be between 6-8 p.m. on Saturday, March 15th.
Gordon County EMA will host another weather briefing with the NWS tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. along with Emergency Operations Center personnel to include all of the aforementioned agencies. Once that briefing is over another update will be sent out if any information has changed to the forecast.
BOTTOM LINE: Prepare now and help yourself and your public safety and public works teams. Make sure you have multiple ways to receive weather warnings such as the HyperReach system which citizens can sign up for at www.gordoncountyga.gov, NOAA weather radios, weather apps offered by the Weather Channel and Atlanta and Chattanooga news stations, etc…. Also, take the time tonight or tomorrow to secure any items in your yard at home or at your business so when the winds do pick up they do not become projectiles. This could include outdoor furniture, garbage cans, etc…
We will continue to monitor this situation and pass along information as it becomes available.
