Owner of Savannah Steelers bar staying put during Irma

SAVANNAH, Ga. — As thousands of people scramble to evacuate Florida and Georgia ahead of Hurricane Irma, others are staying put, including the owner of a Steelers bar in Savannah, Georgia.

“These were gifts to me from some of my Steeler fans,” said Jon Henderson, who owns Coach's Corner sports bar in Savannah. Georgia, a hot spot for Steelers fans.

He was prepared to evacuate, but he says now that Irma is tracking farther west, he's optimistic about this weekend and a full slate of NFL games, including the Steelers

“We will definitely be open tomorrow for what we have and Sunday we hope to get all day in,” Henderson said.

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Channel 11's Rick Earle is in coastal Georgia, where many communities have evacuated.

The mayor of Tybee Island ordered mandatory evacuations Friday morning and it quickly became a ghost town with businesses and homes boarded-up.

“We are getting everything, all the computers out of the way. Preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best,” business owner Christy Alan said.

Most of the businesses in the popular coastal community are now closed, the gas station is shut down and sandbags are in place in case of flooding.

“We've been getting sandbags. We've been putting up wood, sealing windows, anything that we can think of,” said Larry Brison of Franklin, Pa.

Channel 11 found him and Rudy Logan, who's from Monessen, boarding-up businesses and homes because they work for a property management company.

They've been through this before and say they and aren't going anywhere.

“I've been through a couple hurricanes, a typhoon and tornado. This will be a walk in the park, at least I'm hoping,” Logan said.

Cox Media Group