Mayor Jonathan McCollar declared a local state of emergency for the City of Statesboro this morning. This follows Governor Kemp's State of Emergency signed yesterday and Bulloch County's State of Emergency signed by Chairman Roy Thompson on Tuesday.
A state of emergency authorizes City, County and State officials to execute emergency management plans and respond to impacts caused by Hurricane Idalia.
In addition to declaring a state of emergency, the City of Statesboro decided to close City Hall and other city facilities at 11:00 a.m. today in anticipation of the wind and rain expected to arrive this afternoon. City facilities will reopen at 10:00 a.m. Thursday morning.
“The storm forecast for our area has continued to deteriorate since last evening,” says Mayor McCollar. “Our initial plan was to keep city facilities open on Wednesday, but as Hurricane Idalia has continued to gain strength this morning, we feel that it would be in the best interest of our employees and visitors for us to close early.”
In addition to closing facilities early today, the City of Statesboro announced yesterday that it would suspend some of its services that operate on roadways.
There will be no residential waste collection on Wednesday, August 30, or Thursday, August 31. Sanitation services will resume on Friday, September 1, with collection of Wednesday's route. Thursday's route will be collected on Saturday, September 2. Residents are asked to bring their poly carts in from the street curb and secure them at their residences on Wednesday and Thursday as the storm passes through. Poly carts can pose a safety risk when they turn over in the roadway or become airborne.
Statesboro Area Transit also suspended operations of its transit buses for Wednesday, August 30th.
The City of Statesboro continues to monitor weather conditions and will adjust services as needed.
“We’ve been working internally to ensure that our staff is as prepared as possible for any impacts Statesboro might see from Hurricane Idalia,” says McCollar. “Our Public Works crews have been clearing stormwater infrastructure since Monday and many of our departments have planned for additional staffing over the next two days as we await the full impact of the storm. We’re also working collaboratively with Bulloch County and other local agencies to ensure a consistent and effective response to the storm.”
Mayor McCollar asks area residents to limit road travel and stay home as weather conditions worsen throughout the day. “Our Police, Fire, Public Works, and Public Utilities departments are on call and ready to respond to whatever impacts Idalia brings to our community. To ensure the safety of our residents and for our crews to respond quickly, we need roadways clear.”
Residents are also encouraged to sign up for CodeRED, a high-speed emergency alert system utilized by the city and Bulloch County to share emergency updates. Residents can sign up by visiting www.statesboroga.gov/codered or by texting the keyword “Bulloch” to 99411 for a link to the registration page.
