Claudette expected to hit Pike County

Published 7:24 pm Sunday, August 16, 2009

Tropical Storm Claudette could make its presence felt in Pike County around midnight, say local officials.

The fast-moving tropical storm, expected to make landfall in the Florida panhandle near Panama City on Sunday evening, should bring winds of 30 to 40 mph to Pike County around midnight, said Sgt. Benny Scarbrough of the Troy Police Department.

“It’s going to primarily impact us through heavy rain, isolated tornadoes and winds up to 30 mph,” said Scarbrough, who joined other local officials for a weather briefing at 2 p.m. Sunday.

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Scarbrough said residents could expect 3 to 5 inches of rainfall with the storm, as well.

Dr. Linda Felton-Smith, superintendent of the Troy City Schools, also attended the briefing. “I have spoken with the principals and will be keeping in touch with each of them,” she said. “We’ll be monitoring the weather throughout the night and we’ll have to see how the storm is moving in the morning.”

Dr. Mark Bazzell, superintendent of the Pike County Schools, said the schools are not planning to cancel class. “We’re going to sit tight and watch the weather,” he said. “I think I folks should expect some delays with transportation in the morning, but we’ll use our WARN system to notify them about that.”