City of Tybee Island, residents prepare for Hurricane Ian

TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (WTOC) - Out on Tybee Island, residents have been preparing for any potential flooding, filling sandbags today at the volleyball court behind City Hall.

The City actually had more than 40-tons of sand hauled in so people could take advantage.

Some folks said they are new to the threat of a storm like Ian, others seemed like seasoned pros who know more or less what to expect. What brought them all together today at a sand volleyball court was a common goal of loading up sand bags.

“It’s amazing. I didn’t have to worry about having to go to Home Depot and pray that there was sand left. So the fact that they did this is great,” said Liz Talbot.

While some filled up bags to put around their own homes, others filled them up to deliver to friends who couldn’t make it this afternoon, like Peggy White.

“I’m over off of Anderson and Solomon. So we have an upstairs, but we also have living downstairs. So we got all our bags the last few days. We’re over putting sump pumps in now. And then my girlfriend, she live down Jones, and she’s a single level so she’s right there,” said Peggy White.

And it was an effort taken up by all ages.

“Teamwork makes the dream work, man. Look at these kids over here.”

“We’ve done it before, we know how to prepare, and as you can see everyone here today is taking it seriously and executing their emergency plans,” said Assistant City Manager Michelle Owens.

Assistant City Manager Michelle Owens and other city leaders have been in meetings all week, going over Tybee’s storm plan ahead of impacts from Ian.

Owens says while they’re preparing for the worst and hoping for the best, city along with county leaders believe it’s likely the only road on or off the island will be shut down due to flooding at some point.

“We do caution people that 80 will flood maybe at high tide. So just be aware of the tide times, when we have high tide. Most likely we’ll have elevated flooding. And once you’re on the island, when the road closes, you just have to stay put on either side of the road wherever you are. And hopefully it won’t last too long.”

County leaders say they’ll monitor the road conditions closely, and close them down as needed wherever flood waters have come up too high.

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