Caroline Silva and Thad Moore
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(TNS)

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Helene bent pine trees and utility poles like toothpicks. It littered this city’s downtown with twisted sheet metal, blocks-long piles of tree limbs and bricks from fallen building facades.

Two days after the storm raced up from the Gulf of Mexico, power lines still sag along many of south Georgia’s roads, tangling with the pines and oaks that make navigating the region treacherous. Utility officials say it could take weeks for customers in remote corners of the state to get electricity again.

At least 17 deaths have been attributed to the storm, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp confirmed during a Saturday stop to tour damage. He likened Helene to a “250-mile tornado hit” and said after surveying the destruction that it looked as if a bomb had gone off.

“This storm spared no one,” Kemp said.

The death toll across four states — Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas — was least 52 as of Saturday afternoon, the Associated Press reported.

James Stallings, director of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, said the death toll could rise as cleanup efforts continue due to hazardous scenarios like power lines in flooded areas and unsafe driving conditions. He said GEMA and the National Guard are focused on getting roads cleared so health facilities can function properly and crews can restore power.

“We lose more individuals through the cleanup process due to dangerous situations,” Stallings said, adding that a GEMA member stepped on a live power line during cleanup, leaving him unconscious. “If you don’t have necessary travel, we’re asking you, keep those roads cleared.”

Gas shortages, power outages persist

Many in rural Georgia expect to be in the dark for days, even weeks. About 320,000 EMC customers and 500,000 Georgia Power customers remained without power Saturday afternoon, down from more than 1.1 million after the storm entered. The electric membership cooperatives that supply power to much of rural Georgia said damage from Helene surpassed that done by Hurricane Michael in 2018.

“Because of the extended time it will take to restore power in this complex situation created by Hurricane Helene, those who are medically fragile or have other critical electricity-dependent needs should consider temporarily seeking shelter in other areas that were less affected by this storm,” Georgia EMC said in a news release.

The city of Grovetown, outside Augusta, posted a bleak update via social media on Saturday.

“We have no updates as it pertains to power but have seen several crews around the area,” the city said. “This obviously does not mean power will be restored soon, necessarily, however, crews are working to make this process as efficient as possible.”

The city also found a creative solution to the result of so many inoperable refrigerators.

“If you would like to bring your perishable meats up to the Streets and Sanitation/Fleet Maintenance building at 1034 Newmantown Road we are feeding the community and our crews while supplies last,” the post said.

Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson announced a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew set to begin Saturday evening. Neighboring Columbia County enacted a similar measure. The Adel News-Tribune pleaded for people to stay away from an intersection that apparently became a destination for the storm weary.

“The worst traffic jam in Cook County history is now underway at I-75 exit 39,” the outlet posted at midday Saturday. “Please avoid this are

By Raul Angulo

Unless you’re a major city with a commercial seaport or waterfront, it is unlikely you have a fireboat. Cities like New York, New York; Boston, Massachusetts; Seattle, Washington; and San Francisco and Los Angeles, California have marine divisions with a fleet of two or more oceangoing fireboats (tugs). The rest of us with navigable waterways like rivers, lakes, and bays have to rely on the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) or build our own fleet of smaller watercraft vessels. When ships are moored, shipboard firefighting and shoreside firefighting are usually the responsibility of the local fire department. Fresh and saltwater rescues, swiftwater rescues, flood rescues, and body recoveries often use fire department rescue swimmers and SCUBA diving teams. However, police department dive teams or sheriff search and rescue teams can also be charged with that responsibility. No matter who’s in charge, you need a boat.

WHAT IS RESCUEONE?

RescueONE® is a family-owned Southside, Alabama-based subsidiary of the MarineOne Corporation. It was founded in 1989 by Tony Lumpkin, who still owns and operates the company. Its motto is “Rescue boats built by professionals for professionals worldwide.” The RescueONE® Connector Boat® system is an innovative and versatile water access and platform system for fire/res- cue and law enforcement personnel. In addition to being used as individual rescue boats, every boat is surrounded on the edge by a patented connectingrail design that allows the boats to be connected to any other RescueONE® Connector Boats® in the world. This capability enables endless possibilities for several marine and dive teams from different agencies to work together on a single incident. The boats can be connected end-to-end to form a long “I” or a long parallel column platform for traditional body recovery or “dragging” operations. They can also form into a “T,” “U,” “H,” or four-square box configuration to perform heavy lifting or recovery missions (photos 1-6). When multiple boats are connected together, the capacity and stability of the working platform increase exponentially. The connecting feature allows for creating floating docks or stable water-working platforms, allowing personnel performing water-based operations to focus on the mission without the personal safety concerns prevalent with the movement and rocking when working from other small watercraft. Investing in a RescueONE Connector Boat with special accessory packages gives you four boats in one for rapid rescue, dive and recovery operations, flood victim evacuation, and fireboat operations.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 The 1673 x3 boats can be connected end-to-end to form a long “I” or a parallel column platform for body recovery or “dragging” operations, or they can form a “T,” “U,” “H,” or 4-square box configuration to perform heavy lifting or recovery missions. (Photos 1-6 by Tony Lumpkin.)

The RescueONE boats come in four classes: the 1673 x3™ Connector Boats; the 2296 x3™ when the need is for a bigger and faster rescue boat (ph

By STEPHEN SMITH, KATE PAYNE and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press

PERRY, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Helene left an enormous path of destruction across Florida and the southeastern U.S. on Friday, killing at least 40 people in four states, snapping towering oaks like twigs and tearing apart homes as rescue crews launched desperate missions to save people from floodwaters.

The Category 4 hurricane knocked out power to some hospitals in southern Georgia, and Gov. Brian Kemp said authorities had to use chainsaws to clear debris and open up roads. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph) when it made landfall late Thursday in a sparsely populated region in Florida’s rural Big Bend area, home to fishing villages and vacation hideaways where the state’s panhandle and peninsula meet.

Moody’s Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage.

• Assistant Fire Chief Among Those Killed in GA After Helene Strikes
• Two SC Volunteer Firefighters Killed as Hurricane Helene Rolled Across the State
• Helene Lashes the South with Wind and Flooding Rains After Coming Ashore as a Category 4 Storm
  
• The wreckage extended hundreds of miles northward to northeast Tennessee, where a “ dangerous rescue situation ” by helicopter unfolded after 54 people were moved to the roof of the Unicoi County Hospital as water rapidly flooded the facility. Everyone was rescued and no one was left at the hospital as of late Friday afternoon, Ballad Health said.

In North Carolina, a lake featured in the movie “Dirty Dancing” overtopped a dam and surrounding neighborhoods were evacuated, although there were no immediate concerns it would fail. People also were evacuated from Newport, Tennessee, a city of about 7,000 people, amid concerns about a dam near there, although officials later said the structure had not failed.

Tornadoes hit some areas, including one in Nash County, North Carolina, that critically injured four people.

Atlanta received a record 11.12 inches (28.24 centimeters) of rain in 48 hours, the most the city has seen in a two-day period since record keeping began in 1878, Georgia’s Office of the State Climatologist said on the social platform X. The previous mark of 9.59 inches (24.36 cm) was set in 1886. Some neighborhoods were so badly flooded that only car roofs could be seen poking above the water.

Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes in a matter of hours.

When Laurie Lilliott pulled onto her street in Dekle Beach, Florida, after Helene plowed through, she couldn’t see the roofline of her home beyond the palm trees. It had collapsed, torn apart by the pounding storm surge, one corner still precariously propped up by a piling.

“It took me a long time to br

Jozsef Papp, Joe Kovac Jr., Alexis Stevens
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(TNS)

At least 15 people died in Georgia when the massive storm Helene barreled across the Southeast, state officials said Friday.

The death toll across four states — Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas — hit 40 by late Friday afternoon, the Associated Press reported. Storm damage, including downed trees and power lines, made reaching victims treacherous in some areas.

• Two SC Volunteer Firefighters Killed as Hurricane Helene Rolled Across the State
• Numerous Water Rescues After Hurricane Helene Hits Southeast

At an afternoon news conference, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp confirmed that a first responder was among those killed in the storm.

“One of our finest lost his life trying to save others,” Kemp said.

Vernon “Leon” Davis, the Blackshear Fire Department’s assistant chief, died when a tree fell on his city truck shortly before 1:30 a.m. Friday, Pierce County Coroner William Wilson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Blackshear is located about 10 miles northeast of Waycross.

Davis was responding to storm calls when he was killed, Wilson said. The veteran firefighter was passionate about his work serving the community.

“That’s what he loved doing,” Wilson said.

Downed trees were the cause of multiple deaths, including six in the Augusta area.

Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen reported three deaths involving fallen trees. Bowen said it’s been difficult to respond to scenes due to the damage and trees on the roads.

“It’s hard to get to these places because trees are down. It’s just a chaotic mess,” he said.

In Washington County, a 7-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl died after a tree fell on their home and trapped them inside the burning house, Augusta television station WRDW reported. Another person died in Grovetown in Columbia County after a tree fell on a mobile home, the station reported.

A mother and two infants were killed in McDuffie County, News Channel 6 in Augusta reported.

Some 80 miles southwest, a 58-year-old Dublin man was killed early Friday when massive pine trees crashed through the roof of his house. A second person, a Kentucky woman, 48, died when the 18-wheeler she and her husband were traveling in was struck by a wind-blown tree along U.S. 441 about 20 miles south of Dublin.

Laurens County Coroner Richard Stanley III identified the woman who was killed as Angela Edwards of Eddyville, Kentucky. The coroner said the truck Edwards and her husband were in hit a tree in the highway. Before they could move that tree, another toppled onto Edwards.

The Dublin resident who died in the storm, Charles Douglas Brownlee, lived in a house that at least four giant pines keeled over on in a particularly hard-hit section of town near the city’s high school football stadium.

— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.

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