Mathis and his son Jonathan are apart of a group of Savannah, Georgia, residents waiting out Hurricane Floyd in the Coliseum in Macon, Georgia   VIDEO CNN's Aram Roston talks with families who left their homes to find safety from Floyd. Windows Media 28K 80K

September 15, 1999
Web posted at: 8:17 p.m. EDT (0017 GMT)

MACON, Georgia (CNN) -- Although coastal Georgia was spared the brunt of Hurricane Floyd, emergency officials are trying to convince hundreds of thousands of residents not to return to homes in low-lying areas because of the continuing threat of heavy rains and dangerous winds from Floyd.

In a Red Cross shelter set up at the Coliseum in Macon, Georgia, Cara and Howard Mathis monitored radio reports in hopes of returning to their Savannah, Georgia, home.

Howard Mathis works for the telephone company in Savannah, where he and his family live next door to his sister-in-law. When Floyd headed in their direction, Mathis packed up the extended family and drove 200 miles inland to Macon.

The dozen refugees have turned a 12-by-15 foot space in the coliseum into their temporary home.

"I guess you could say this is kind of like our living room," Cara Mathis said jokingly.

It's also a playroom where the children play checkers.

The Mathis family brought with them their most precious belongings, photo albums and memorabilia

The families had packed up blankets, food, pillows and a few changes of clothes. But something even more precious was loaded into the van: Photo albums and memorabilia.

"This is my grandson's baby book," said Howard Mathis. "It's very important. If the house blows away or it goes underwater -- this is not replaceable."

The Mathis family's life on the run from Hurricane Floyd is far from unique. Some 1,500 other people have joined them in the shelter.

"We've got people here from Florida; we got people from South Carolina -- so it's a combination," said Red Cross official Jim Long.

Mathis was concerned about one of his neighbors who stayed behind.

"A guy that lives right around the corner from me, he's about 90 years old," said Mathis. "He said he's not going. If the place he's had all his life blows away, he's going to go with it."

The eye of the hurricane was expected to pass 90 miles east of Savannah on Wednesday evening. State officials said roadblocks would probably remain up until Thursday, until roads could be inspected and any debris could be removed.

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