Southeast braces for heavy rain, winds from Beryl

Tropical Storm Beryl has residents in Georgia and Florida bracing for drenching rains and driving winds. The Weather Channel Mike Seidel reports.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

Updated at 2:33 p.m. ET: Tropical Storm Beryl already was wrecking some Memorial Day weekend plans on Sunday, sending shoreline campers packing to head inland and canceling some events in the southeastern United States.

The storm is due to make landfall later tonight, from Jacksonville, Fla. to Georgia.

Beryl was still well offshore, but officials in Georgia and Florida were already bracing for drenching rains and driving winds. Campers at Cumberland Island, which is reachable only by boat, were told to leave by 4:45 p.m. The island has a number of undeveloped beaches and forests popular with campers.

Many people, however, seemed determined to make the best of the soggy forecast.

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At Greyfield Inn, a 19th-century mansion and the only private inn on Cumberland Island, the rooms were nearly full Sunday; all guests were planning to stay put through the wet weather, said Dawn Drake, who answered the phone at the inn's office on the Florida coast.

In Jacksonville, Fla., Mayor Alvin Brown ordered a state of emergency, ending the Jazz Festival early and urging people to stay out of the water and off the streets, News4JAX.com reported. Workers are also out clearing tree limbs and debris that could be tossed about by the storm's winds.

"We are encouraging all residents to stay indoors," Brown said at a Sunday morning news conference at the Emergency Operations Center.?

But business was booming at Red Dog Surf Shop in New Smyrna Beach where customers flocked to buy boards and wax in anticipation of the storm's high waves. Officials all along the coast warned of rip currents, waves and high tides ? all of which can be dangerous but also tend to attract adventurous surfers.

Joe Murphy, a spokesman for the Ritz Carlton in Amelia Island, said he was not seeing a flood of checkouts or people trying to get off the island. The hotel expected about 140 checkouts out of 466 rooms, he said.

Outdoor dining had been moved inside and the hotel set up movies and family game activities, but the hotel had no plans to board up or move patio furniture inside.

"So far it's kind of business as usual, but with that sort of anticipation of what does the storm mean," Murphy said.

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Beryl was upgraded from a subtropical storm on Sunday afternoon. It was centered about 110 miles (175 kilometers) east of Jacksonville, Fla., and about 120 miles (195 km) east-southeast of Brunswick, Ga. Forecasters said the system had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) and was moving west at 10 mph (17 kph).

Beryl?was projected to make landfall late Sunday or early Monday, though tropical storm conditions -- meaning maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph) --?were expected to reach the U.S. coast hours before that. Once it makes landfall, Beryl will continue dumping rain over parts of Florida and Georgia before slowly moving back out to sea.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the entire Georgia coastline, as well as parts of Florida and South Carolina, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Beryl was expected to weaken to a depression Monday once it came ashore, the center said.

On Tybee Island, a barrier island not far from Savannah, water off the beaches was closed for swimming Sunday morning. Tybee Island fire Chief C.L. Sasser said winds of up to 42 mph were creating "horrendous water currents." Only people with flotation devices strapped or tethered to their bodies were being allowed into the water, and they were being cautioned to not venture in farther than knee deep.

"Even if you're standing in waist-deep water, the current can sweep you out quickly," he said.

His ocean rescue team pulled a total of 48 people from the water on Saturday, he said, including about 27 that were considered to be in life-threatening conditions. One man who was sucked under the water was rescued by friends and onlookers and was taken to the hospital in serious condition.

A band of showers soaked the beaches late Sunday morning, causing crowds to thin, Sasser said. With alternating rainy and sunny weather forecast throughout the day, he said he expected the crowds on the sands to ebb and flow.

In South Carolina, Janice Keith with the Myrtle Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau said the office hadn't fielded any calls from concerned tourists.

In Beaufort County, emergency management deputy director David Zeoli said officials were continuing to monitor the storm and encourage people to have a plan in case conditions get worse.

Zeoli said winds had kicked up in the area that includes Hilton Head Island, a popular golf and beach destination. "It's just a wet day here," he said.

Msnbc.com's James Eng contributed to this report from The Associated Press.

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