AUGUSTA (Georgia Recorder) —Gov. Brian Kemp joined several elected officials, emergency responders, and other officials Monday in Augusta-Richmond County as the area begins to slowly rebuild from the devastation caused when the remnants of Hurricane Helene struck the region and numerous other communities across the state early Friday.
Kemp’s delivered tried to reassure residents of Augusta, the rest of east Georgia and other communities statewide affected by the storm will have a surge of government resources to assist in rebuilding in the aftermath of Helene.
Kemp compared the extent of Helene’s destruction to that of a 250-mile-wide tornado that “spared no one” and, as of Monday morning, had claimed the lives of at least 25 people in Georgia and more than 90 people across the Southeast.
Kemp said that Helene was an unusual storm because it was a Category 2 hurricane that made landfall in Georgia.
More than half of the 1.3 million Georgia homes, businesses, hospitals and other places without power since Friday have been reconnected by thousands of utility line workers and other personnel.
About 500 people have been housed in temporary shelters across the state after the storm, and more than 350 clean water distribution sites have been set up.
“To see the level of destruction that a hurricane could do in this community, being this far from Lowndes County or Echols County and the Florida line, is unprecedented,” Kemp said. “I would just like to say our thoughts and prayers continue to be with all these Georgians that have lost their lives and their families in our local community.”
“So many of our fellow citizens that are struggling out there — we know people are frustrated,” Kemp said. “We know they are tired. We know they need power back on — need resources — and we are working 24/7 to deliver that.”
The Garden City, famous for hosting the Masters golf tournament every spring, is one of the areas of Georgia hit hardest by Helene, which tore a path through the eastern side of the state after forecasters predicted metro Atlanta would take the brunt of the storm.
Augusta and Valdosta, located more than 200 miles away near the Florida state line, have been the setting for a parade of state leaders who have offered their condolences and vowed to help marshal the resources needed for recovery.
Among the storm’s victims in Georgia was Blackshear Fire Department Assistant Chief Vernon “Leon” Davis, who was killed when a fallen tree struck his vehicle while he responded to an emergency call early Friday morning.
In McDuffie County, a 27-year-old mother and her one-month-old twin boys died after a tree fell on their home, and in Washington County, a four-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy died after a tree fell on a burning house.
Republican and Democratic state officials and Congress members from Georgia have spent time over the last couple days getting an up close look at some of the hardest hit communities affected by the tropical storm.
At Monday’s storm recovery update, Kemp was joined by Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson, Republican U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, Republican House Speaker Jon Burns, and some state lawmakers representing Augusta-Richmond and surrounding neighborhoods.
Kemp and U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, visited Valdosta over the weekend. Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock also spent Monday touring the Augusta area and meeting with Augusta-Richmond officials and residents coping with the aftermath.
Kemp said he’s been in contact with President Joe Biden and Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Deanne Bennett Criswell about disaster relief assistance.
“Just know that we will work in a bipartisan way on disaster relief in this state with our federal, state, and local partners,” Kemp said. “We have submitted our expedited emergency declaration. This is something that’s very rare, but this will help us, and I feel certain it will be approved by the president and federal partners.”
How to help with Hurricane Helene disaster relief in Georgia
Feeding Georgia is comprised of the state’s seven regional food banks. Donations can be made at https://feedinggeorgia.org/donate/
The American Red Cross of Georgia is housing displaced storm victims in shelters and providing other assistance across the state: https://www.redcross.org/local/georgia.html
To learn more about emergency government assistance for individuals and households visit: https://gema.georgia.gov/assistance/individual-assistance
Congress may break from its six-week recess and return to D.C. in the last days before an extremely close election to approve emergency spending for Hurricane Helene recovery and response.
On Monday, former President Donald Trump dropped in with supplies and made brief public remarks while standing in front of a collapsed wall of a brick building in Valdosta.
“As you know, our country is in the final weeks of a hard-fought national election,” Trump said, wearing a red Make America Great Again hat. “But in a time like this, when a crisis hits, when our fellow citizens cry out in need, none of that matters. We’re not talking about politics now. We have to all get together and get this solved.”
Helene has been described by Johnson as the worst in the city of Augusta’s nearly 300-year history. Since Sunday, the city’s water service has been temporarily disconnected in order to clean out trash and debris that was blocking the city from pumping water into homes, businesses and other buildings.
Some signs of normalcy are returning to Augusta, including the Augusta Regional Airport resuming regular service Sunday and people eating lunch at several local restaurants in downtown Augusta, just feet away from uprooted trees along sidewalks.
Power restoration expected to take several more days
As of Monday afternoon, 15,000 utility linemen and other workers from Georgia Power and out-of-state utilities were scattered throughout the state helping to restore power to 355,000 Georgians who were still without electricity.
As of daybreak Monday, there were 613,000 power outages remaining statewide, a total reported by Georgia Power and Georgia Electric Membership Corporation.
According to Georgia Power, there were 72,000 outages in Richmond County at 63,400 in Columbia County, as well as several thousand more in surrounding counties as of Monday afternoon.
Local EMCs have been dealing with the arduous task of fixing 1.000 broken utility poles, double the number damaged by Hurricane Idalia in August 2023, Kemp said Monday.
Georgia Electric Membership Corporation reported Monday morning there were about 54,000 households and businesses in East Georgia and 232,000 local EMCs customers across the state without electricity.
Several thousand utility personnel from more than ten states are assisting Georgia’s EMCs in repairing the unprecedented amount of damage, including hundreds of trees on transmission lines and toppled towers.
According to Georgia Transmission, 80 of the more than 100 electrical substations damaged by Helene were back in operation by Sunday afternoon.
“Even with this considerable progress, EMCs are expecting several more days of outages, with the hardest hit areas expected to be out of power at least a week or more,” Georgia EMC said in a statement.
About 1,500 Georgia National Guard members have been involved in disaster relief efforts across Georgia. They’ve worked with assisting state and local emergency response agencies with removing people trapped in their homes by downed trees and debris and performing traffic control for blocked roads and at intersections.
Several hundred traffic lights across Georgia were not still not functioning as of Monday.
“We’re transporting critical supplies all over the state —food, water and generators,” Georgia National Guard General Dwayne Wilson said at Monday’s storm briefing in downtown Augusta. “We’re doing that not only by ground, but we’ve got helicopters. We’re trying to get critical supplies to where needed as fast as we can.”
Georgia Reporter Deputy Editor Jill Nolin contributed to this report.
