DALTON, Ga. — Hurricane Irma weakened into a tropical storm and pushed northward into Georgia from Florida, bringing soaking rain and the possibility of occasional strong wind gusts into northern Georgia overnight Monday and into this morning. 

All of Georgia was in a “state of emergency” after a declaration by Gov. Nathan Deal, and the southeastern coast and middle Georgia were under the assault of heavy rain bands while stronger wind gusts hit southwest Georgia as the center of circulation moved northward from the Florida panhandle. Wind gusts of 66 miles per hour were recorded in Atlanta on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.

Light and steady rain moved into Whitfield and Murray counties by daybreak on Monday with more expected overnight and into this morning, with strong winds expected. In anticipation of troublesome weather, all three local school systems and Georgia Northwestern Technical College shut down classes on Monday and today, with Dalton State College closing its Dalton and Gilmer campuses on Monday. School board and other government meetings were canceled, and libraries and health departments closed.

“We are looking at winds sustained of 20 to 25 miles per hour overnight and gusts up to 45 or 50 miles per hour,” Whitfield County Emergency Management Director Claude Craig said Monday afternoon after being briefed by the National Weather Service. “We are just waiting on the next call and the next update.”

Craig said he had not heard of any power outages in the area, but downed trees and downed power lines are the biggest concerns. 

“The rain is going to loosen the soil and then the wind is going to take some trees down and then power lines are going to be going down,” Craig said. “Trees and water are our big concerns. We are still in a flash flood watch.”

Whitfield County Fire Department Chief Edward O’Brien said his department is prepared for the worst but is not expecting much more than what the area would experience with a strong summer storm. 

“We are not really expecting anything major,” O’Brien said. “Power lines and safety issues are the biggest things we are concerned with. The good thing is we knew this was coming, schools are out, so we don’t have to worry about anyone getting stuck at school or buses on the roads. That is the biggest difference between this and a regular storm that pops up. We know this is coming.”

Craig agreed. 

“If you don’t know this is coming by now, you are living under a rock,” he said. “That is one of the good things about it. Hopefully, we have people who are prepared and have taken the proper precautions so we don’t have any trampolines flying into power lines. Right now, we are worried about our own public safety response. If we have heavy gusts, that will make the response more dangerous as they go out on calls. We are briefing our responders today and will be prepared.”

The parking lot of Kmart on Walnut Avenue was filled with utility vehicles and bucket trucks from a Missouri company, and Craig said multiple power contractors were in the area ready to respond southward. 

“There are a lot of power company trucks that are staging here until they are dispatched to other locations,” Craig said. “I don’t think that is by design, it just happens that we had space and hotel rooms.”