As Georgia continues the recovery process in the wake of Hurricane Helene barreling through the state, Governor Brian Kemp joined state agency leaders from GEMA, the Georgia National guard and others to update residents on the status of that effort.
“We’re having a hard time getting to places, so we’ve got to get our chainsaw cut teams to continue working to free up roads,” Kemp said.
Kemp discussed the damage the storm caused.
“Early this morning we had wind gusts over 90 miles an hour that were measured in South Georgia, a cat 2 hurricane, actually 100 mile an hour wind gusts were measured in Alma, Georgia in Bacon County. At this time, this has been a deadly storm. We’ve had 11 confirmed fatalities.”
One of those killed during the storm was a first responder. The governor said teams were working to free people from damaged structures.
“We’re also trying to get to multiple structures right now that we know have individuals inside that we are unable to communicate with,” according to Kemp. “We’ll have to literally cut our way into situations like this. A good example is the Maryland Search and Rescue team who is here with us. I want to thank them for that, in Valdosta have identified 115 structures that are heavily damaged that we know there are multiple people trapped inside.”
According to the National Weather Service, additional flooding is expected.
