Residents and businesses were busy working Monday to clean-up and recover after the Sunday morning storm that brought down trees and power lines in Clarkesville and and across the Northeast Georgia region.
One of the hardest hit areas in Clarkesville was the Rocky Branch Road and Gabrels Drive vicinity. Power crews worked into the evening Sunday repairing service and power transmission lines in the area to restore power to customers. On Monday, Windstream was in the area repairing internet lines in an effort to restore service to their customers.
According to Clarkesville Fire Chief Jason Poole, the city had received various reports of damage around the city. Most of the damage was due to fallen trees but he said there were lots of reports of minor roof damage in the area. Cap’N Auto Service received some of the worst roof damage in the city.
Poole said that Ingles experienced some minor roof damage and trees were snapped off behind the building. Fortunately, none of the trees hit the grocery store.
As for the damage to the Clarkesville Fire Department, Poole stated that the roof has in fact sustained significant structural damage and will have to be replaced. He said that Clarkesville City Manager Keith Dickerson had already contacted the city’s insurance company and filed a claim. However, no time line has been given for when repairs will begin.
City damage
Dickerson confirmed the damage to the fire station during the storm. “The city suffered some severe structural damage to the Fire Department and we are working to keep that area safe for our employees,” he said.
According to Dickerson, “The City has been working on keeping the public safe since the storm hit. Public safety was constantly monitoring the situation and we have been clearing roads and working with electric companies to clear power lines so trees could be removed from the roadways,” he said. “There are certain areas that were hit much harder than others in the City and we do have crews still working to clear the roads. Small debris will be removed once the roads are clear.”
Clean-up and repairs will be ongoing for several weeks as people recover from the Sunday morning storm.
