Thursday forecasts for Hurricane Irma puts Covington County out of danger for the powerful hurricane.

EMA Director Susan Harris said that Irma continued to move west-northwest at 16mph toward the southern Bahamas on Thursday morning with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph.

The storm is expected to shift northwestward to northward toward the Florida peninsula by  the weekend.

“Confidence continues to increase that Irma will make the northward turn somewhere in the vicinity of the southern Florida Peninsula this weekend, and the official NHC track continues to take the center of Irma near the eastern Florida coast Sunday into early Monday, ” she said.