The Effingham Emergency Management agency reports that Hurricane Florence has weakened to a Category-2 hurricane as it approaches the North Carolina coast. Changes in the extended forecast leave room for the possibility of the storm shifting south, into South Carolina over the weekend and pushing tropical storm force winds and rains into Georgia.

Please prepare for the possibility of strong winds and rain, trees and power lines down, and power outages from Friday evening through Tuesday.

County and city leaders will continue discussions for further plans and outlines for any actions to be taken, as the forecasts for Hurricane Florence develop.

Public Notices:

* Effingham County schools have no plans to cancel classes or sport events at this time.

* The Effingham Recreation and Parks Department will still hold all planned activities Thursday. There are no events scheduled Friday; and Saturday events will continue as planned at this time.

* Government offices for Effingham County and the cities of Guyton, Rincon and Springfield plan to remain open and follow normal business hours.

* Atlantic Waste will be collecting Thursday and Friday trash pickups Thursday; Thursday and Friday recycling will be postponed to next week (collection will be attempted Monday-Wednesday).

* Waste Management has postponed trash collection in Springfield until further notice.

This information and updates are available on the EEMA information line at 912-754-8206, the EEMA website and its Facebook page.