Flanked by a host of local and state officials including Mayor Garnett Johnson, Columbia County Board of Commissioner Chairman Doug Duncan and Congressman Rick Allen, Gov. Brian Kemp visited Augusta, Monday morning, speaking to the CSRA on the impact Hurricane Helene at the James Brown Arena, describing the weekend’s devastation as if “a 250-mile-wide tornado had hit.”
“This storm literally spared no one,” the governor said, mentioning a litany of tragic losses—a 27-year-old mother and her infant twins in McDuffie County, a seven-year-old and a four-year-old in Washington, Ga., and a 58-year-old man in Dublin, all of whom died after trees crashed onto their homes—among some 25 deaths due to the storm. “To see the level of obstruction that a hurricane could do in this community, being this far from Lowndes County or Eccles County on the Florida line, is unprecedented.”
MORE: Columbia County provides update on Hurricane Helene relief efforts
Kemp, who had visited Valdosta on Saturday, said regarding statewide power outages that Georgia’s electric membership cooperatives (EMC’s) have restored electricity so far for 208,645 customers, out of 435,000 who had lost power. He also mentioned that Georgia Power CEO Kim Greene told him that some 5,000 poles were damaged, and 9,000 spans of wire were down.
Gov. Kemp also mentioned that most state routes are now passable, with at least one lane open, and made sure to urge citizens traveling on the road to treat intersections with downed traffic signals as four-way stops—“no matter how big the intersection is”—noting some 573 damaged traffic signals in the state.
Kemp, furthermore, announced that the Georgia Supreme Court is to issue a statewide judicial emergency for 30 days, for those not able to fulfill a timeline during the storm.
MORE: Augusta Commission fills vacant positions, hires debris firms in storm’s aftermath
Maj. Gen. Dwayne Wilson of the Georgia National Guard said that 1,500 Georgia guardsmen were partnering with state and local partners to respond to damages—with the 878th Engineer Battalion responding on Saturday morning—providing support. This includes route and debris clearance packages, transporting supplies such as food, water and generators and assisting with traffic control.
Chris Stallings, director of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), observed that the agency has established 361 drinking water sites, and are working on 78 water treatment facilities, warning that 291 boil water advisories are anticipated statewide.
GEMA has also set up mobile 911 dispatches, and deployed generators, tarps, food rations, toiletries and other supplies throughout the state, but said that “it’s going to take about 72 hours for some of you to start seeing some of those resources reach you, simply because of how destructive the storm was.” GEMA will also be working toward getting power and fuel to gas stations.
Stallings advised residents go to information on these resources, and on where points of distribution can be found, at www.GEMA.georgia.gov.
Kemp mentioned that he spoke to President Joe Biden the previous evening, and at the time of the media briefing had been playing phone tag with Vice President Kamala Harris, while the governor’s team briefed former President Donald Trump on the latter’s visit to Valdosta. He also noted that Sen. Raphael Warnock was visiting, while Sen. Jon Ossoff was also in Valdosta.
“[President Biden] just said ‘hey what do you need?’ And I told him we’ve got what we need, we’ll work through the federal process,” said Kemp, noting that the state has submitted its expedited emergency declaration for disaster relief. Kemp said that Biden offered to call him directly if anything else is needed.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
