At least five people are dead after Hurricane Zeta slammed into the South. Three of those deaths happened in North Georgia.
In Acworth, a man died when a large oak tree was uprooted and fell through the corner of a mobile home, and in Gwinnett County, two people were killed when a tree fell on their house, pinning them inside, authorities said.
A 55-year-old died from electrocution in Louisiana, the governor said, and another person was killed in Biloxi, Mississippi.
The storm system swept up from the Gulf after making landfall on Wednesday. Zeta began pounding Northeast Georgia with high winds and brief bouts of heavy rain around 5 a.m. Thursday. The storm system was fierce but swept through relatively quickly before turning toward the Northeast.
Habersham County – already under a local state of emergency after Hurricane Delta – now faces more heavy cleanup. Emergency management officials say the storm knocked down 249 trees. The same number of trees were wrapped in power lines. Firefighters and law enforcement rescued several people trapped inside their homes by fallen trees. One woman escaped serious injury when a large tree crushed her car as she drove along Historic U.S. 441 Thursday morning.
White County Commissioners declared a local State of Emergency to help expedite their recovery efforts. More than half a dozen school systems in North Georgia canceled classes Friday due to the widespread damage and power outages.
Widespread power outages
In contrast to Hurricane Delta which caused severe flooding just four weeks ago, it wasn’t the rain but the wind that posed Zeta’s biggest threat. Cornelia recorded wind gusts of 40-50 mph and even a few as high as 60 mph.
Zeta knocked out power to more than a half-million Georgians as she trekked southwest to northeast. Nearly a quarter-million of those customers were still waiting for their lights to come back on early Friday.
Habersham EMC called in additional crews from South Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida. Georgia Power Area Manager Brent Edwards asks customers to be patient.
“We’re doing the best we can, but it’s tough conditions out there,” he says.
Video recorded at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020
Local emergency response
Public works, transportation, and emergency crews began working before dawn Thursday, clearing roads and responding to accidents.
Fire destroyed a house in Banks County near Alto. There were multiple structure fire calls in Habersham, but emergency services director Chad Black says no houses burned. Fire did destroy a storage shed on property off of Jenny Lane.
Several vehicles hit trees that fell in the road, but Black says no one was seriously injured.
One woman had an extremely close call when a tree crushed her compact car as she was driving on Historic U.S. 441.
On Thursday, first responders responded to multiple calls of trees on houses with people trapped inside. “All of them, including pets, were removed safely, and nobody was injured,” says Black. In addition to weather-related calls, emergency personnel spent the day Thursday responding to regular medical calls and delivering oxygen cylinders to people on home oxygen who lost electricity.
It’s not just the first responders and public workers who were out helping; neighbors pitched in too.
Peter Gray helped his neighbor whose car was crushed by the tree. “It missed her head by only a matter of inches,” Gray says. “She was praising God for keeping her safe.”
Juan Martinez brought his chainsaw over to help his neighbors when a tree fell on their camper. “It knocked the power out pretty good,” he says.
Despite the widespread damage, there were no reports of any serious injuries in Habersham County.
The lack of electricity brought early voting in several counties, including Habersham, to a temporary standstill. Both of Habersham’s early voting precincts were closed for six hours as officials waited for electricity to be restored. The polling precincts reopened at 2 p.m., according to county officials.
