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Tropical Storm Irma's rain bands, strong wind reach metro Atlanta

ATLANTA — Irma has weakened to a tropical storm as it approaches Georgia.

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Irma's rain bands and high winds are beginning to move into metro Atlanta as it continues to weaken as a Category 1 storm.

As of 6:15 a.m., Georgia Power reported more than 97,000 customers without power and EMC reports more than 49,000 customers without power.

The massive storm hammered much of Florida on Sunday. At least five deaths are now associated with Irma in Florida, according to officials.

The storm's maximum sustained winds were downgraded to 85 mph and WSB-TV meteorologist Karen Minton said more weakening is expected.

After Tampa, Irma will then take a northwesterly turn as it moves into Georgia near the Albany area, becoming a tropical storm by Monday evening.

“We’re on the wrong side of the storm,” Burns said. “The Atlanta metro is going to see a lot of rainfall, intense rainfall at times, 3-6 inches, with the possibility of isolated tornadoes. And we’re going to see winds that are averaging about 40 mph, with peak wind gusts of about 60 mph.”

Burns said the wind and rain will taper off by Tuesday morning.

Heavy wind

All of north Georgia is currently under a tropical storm warning.

“That means tropical storm-force winds are likely over the next 24 hours,” Burns said.

Burns is also warning of possible tornadoes spinning off from the storm.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the following counties: Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattahoochee, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clarke, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Crawford, Crisp, Dade, Dawason, DeKalb, Dodge, Dooly, Douglas, Emanuel, Fannin, Fayette, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer, Glascock, Gordon, Greene, Gwinnett, Hall, Hancock, Haralson, Harris, Heard, Henry, Houston, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Lamar, Laurens, Lumpkin, Macon, Madison, Marion, Meriwether, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Murray, Muscogee, Newton, North Fulton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Paulding, Peach, Pickens, Pike, Polk, Pulaski, Putnam, Rockdale, Schley, South Fulton, Spalding, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taliaferro, Taylor, Telfair, Toombs, Towns, Treutlen, Troup, Twiggs, Union, Upson, Walker, Walton, Warren, Washington, Webster, Wheeler, White, Whitfield, Wilcox, Wilkes and Wilkinson

“Even though the storm prediction center is not indicating any tornado prospects for us, I’m saying there's a chance for isolated tornadoes that can spin up without warning,” Burns said.

Burns said with the high winds expected, much of downtown Atlanta could become like a wind tunnel Monday. Strong gusts of wind that came through Sunday evening already started causing problems in downtown with fallen debris from a build along Peachtree Street.

“The air will get squeezed between the buildings and you’re going to see some terrific wind gusts. Sixty, maybe 65 mph wind gusts in downtown Atlanta,” Burns said.

Burns expects winds gusts to be around 45 mph across the metro Monday morning, with winds being much higher south of the metro.

Those wind speeds will increase as the storm gets closer Monday afternoon.

Rain

A flash-flood watch has been issued ahead of Irma’s impacts across all of north Georgia.

The watch goes into effect at 8 a.m. Monday until 8 a.m. Tuesday.

WSB-TV's Katie Walls said all of north Georgia could see 3-7 inches of rain, which could cause creeks and streams to rise, as well as ponding on local roadways.

Walls said the metro could start seeing the rain coming from Irma early Monday morning.

“We’ll start to see some of those very light rain showers work their way into the south metro, then become more widespread as we head throughout the morning period,” Walls said.

Walls said the heaviest rain will start to arrive in the afternoon Monday.

“As we head into the afternoon and evening commutes home, we’ll be dealing with those gusts of 60 mph. We’re also going to be dealing with some very intense downpours as well,” Walls said.

Those periods of intense wind and rain will continue throughout the evening and will start to taper off by early Tuesday morning.

“We’re still expecting widespread rain on tap across all of metro Atlanta,” Walls said.