Many people had hoped to escape the effects of Irma. Skip Irwin is riding out the storm in the Georgia center after leaving his Florida home.
“Because this is the closest hotel we could get from Florida when the storm was coming in,” Irwin said. “
Irwin had just moved to Florida from Illinois.
“We moved to Florida last Saturday, we had a house down there, we sold our house in Illinois and we moved in and then we found out we had to leave so we had to start packing and figuring out what the essential were.”
Ryan Williams is an Athens resident, and he’s also toughing out the storm at the hotel. He making the best of it while he waits for Irma to pass.
“Getting a game of corn hole together, there’s little kids running around, playing little games,” Williams said. “I’m just waiting for the storm to pass, might spend the night for a couple of days.”
Experts say the worst of the storm should be felt tonight and into early morning.
