Brantley Countians are slowly getting back to normality since Friday’s early morning strong winds associated with Hurricane Helene hurridly passed through.
Left in the wake were downed trees, many taking out power lines leaving residents without electricity.
“We did not get the damage like Ware County and Pierce County,” said Sheriff Len Davis. “It could have been a lot worse. Damage-wise, most of the damage was on the northwest side of the county. Hopefully we’ll have some numbers to release later in the week.”
Just over 99 percent (99.35) of the meters in the county were without power from either Okefenoke Rural Electric Membership Corporation (OREMC) or through Georgia Power.
By 4:30 p.m., Monday (September 30), the number of outages remaining had dropped to 14.11% (663 out of 9,947).
Linemen and public safety personnel have been working long days trying to get power up. Helene is perhaps the most significant storm Brantley County has seen.
“This was a total team effort in the community,” said Deputy Sheriff John Simpson. “This was the worst damage we’ve had in a while.”
Simpson added most of the damage was from Lulaton back to the west side of Hoboken near Saddle Club Road.
Sustained winds between 40-60 mph with gusts of 70 mph were being reported by OREMC. Nine of the co-op’s 18 substations experienced transmission outages.
Business’s were forced to close, many doing so Thursday (September 26) by 3 p.m. Saturday was the first day gasoline was made available with many residents waiting in line in the Waynesville area for an hour our longer. Gas became available in Nahunta a day later.
In addition to damage to EMC distribution lines, the storm severely damaged high-voltage transmission lines.
“We are grateful for the many extra helping hands — 160 individuals from seven different organizations,” OREMC officials said.
The co-op gave thanks to Asplundh Tree Expert, LLC, Prosource, @kendallvegsvc, Pike Electric, Sumter EMC Pike crews, Osmose and TRC.
Gov. Brian Kemp has declared a state of emergence so resources and assistance can start.
County officials gathered Wednesday (September 25) and Thursday (September 26) during called meetings to get updates from the National Weather Service (NWS) out of Jacksonville, Fla., on Helene and put together a plan of action.
Officials were told the projected path could veer easterly as made landfall, which it did.
The biggest factor was when to pull first responders and law enforcement off the road to protect them. By safety code, no personnel was going to be on the road once sustained winds reached 40 mph, which was going to be monitored by Emergency Services coordinator/ EMA director Beth Hopkins.
The City of Nahunta issued a curfew Friday, 27 at 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. Sunday September 29. All non-essential travel and activities were prohibited during the curfew hours.
Exemptions to the curfew included emergency responders (police, fire, medical services), essential workers (utilities, public works, healthcare), and other individuals or services as deemed necessary by local authorities.
Another disturbance in the Caribbean Sea the National Hurricane Center is observing has a 40% chance of forming into a tropical system within the next week.
The good news is that water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico have cooled slightly, which should limit the same sort of rapid development Helene experienced.
Blackshear Fire Department’s assistant chief Vernon “Leon” Davis was one of at least 25 people who died in Georgia because of the storm. Davis had been a firefighter for more than 30 years, according to Blackshear Police Chief Chris Wright.
Davis died when a tree fell on his city truck shortly before 1:30 a.m. Friday, Pierce County Coroner William Wilson said. He was responding to storm calls when he was killed.
Davis had just been clearing up downed trees and power lines before he was killed.
The death toll is expected to rise as cleanup efforts continue due to hazardous scenarios like power lines in flooded areas and unsafe driving conditions, authorities said.
SPECIAL PHOTO Scenes like this one can be seen around Brantley County with trees snapped and power lines pulled down across yards. At least one family near Saddle Club Road was reported to have lost a roof to a barn. Sheriff Len Davis is gathering numbers to get the damage left by the winds associated with Hurricane Helene.
A lineman cuts a tree limb from a power pole which snapped a power line cutting electricity from a home. SPECIAL PHOTO
