Hurricane Florence, recently downgraded to a Category 1 storm, made landfall earlier this week with the southeast coast in its crosshairs, and Georgia may feel the impact, too.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal went ahead to call a state of emergency for all counties on Sept. 12. “The state is mobilizing all available resources to ensure public safety ahead of Hurricane Florence,” the governor said.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Georgia may stay drier than its northern neighbors that were battered by heavy rain and huge waves early Thursday morning.

Last year, Hurricane Irma demonstrated how the weather may change from comfortable to life threatening. To prepare for an impending emergency, The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency is offering resources for out-of-state refugees and state residents who want to prepare for Florence.

In other local real estate news:

• A Chicago based developer and investor, CA Ventures, plans to build the 22-story Atlanta Apartment Tower in Buckhead. Located just a block from Peachtree Road, the tower will include 408 units and 16,400 square feet of retail space. CA Ventures plans to develop the tower to be geared toward millennials with 55 percent of the apartment being studios or one-bedroom units. Designed by the architecture firm Niles Bolton Associates, the tower will rise 225 feet on the site of East Places Ferry and Grandview Ave. CA Ventures’ plans to build an apartment tower came after a month-long pause concerns of oversupplying the market. This is not the only multifamily development being constructed in the area as Buckhead has seen a boom in new developments within the past five years.
• Georgia was named the 19th happiest state according to findings by WalletHub. The state received a score of 55.15 after analyzing three categories: emotional and physical wellbeing, work environment, and community and environment – all of which received scores 25, 16 and seven out of 50 The states of Hawaii, Utah and Minnesota placed in the top three. The study also included other statistics including fewest work hours, lowest long-term unemployment rate and highest income growth. Georgia placed near the bottom at 46 in one category, lowest income growth.
• Buckhead planners are hoping to address traffic problems, believing the answer may lie within building a “better mix” of housing types. Livable Buckhead Executive Director Denise Starling said the answer to the traffic problems stem from housing. “Housing is concentrated at the high end of the cost scale, putting it out of reach of many of the people who work there,” Starling said. Bleakely and Associates released a market housing analysis, determining 20 percent of employees working in Buckhead can only afford a rent no more than $1,500 a month. Livable Buckhead is leading an effort to curb traffic problems, working closely with theBuckhead Community Improvement District and a committee of 35 stakeholders to create new strategies to diversify housing. Work started in August and it is expected to take six month to complete.