A week after Tropical Storm Irma rolled through Georgia, causing extensive damage in some portions of North Georgia, the storm’s effects still are being felt.
Some homes where owners need to make repairs remain without power, while others are dealing with the loss of their homes, vehicles and other structures.
The storm began affecting North Georgia Monday afternoon, Sept. 11, and continued to cause wind damage through Tuesday, Sept. 12, closing schools, restaurants and other businesses across the area.
Local emergency management agency officials and elected officials met with Gov. Nathan Deal at the Habersham County Airport on Thursday, briefing him on what they had seen in each of their jurisdictions.
Banks County
In Banks County, EMA officials and E-9-1-1 personnel fielded more than 500 calls of trees and lines down and more than 20 homes with major damage from the onset of Irma through the next morning, about an 18-hour period.
Banks County Sheriff's Office, with aid from Banks County Road Department, Banks County Fire/EMS, Banks County Water, and the cities responded to nearly 200 roads.
“At the height of the outages, we probably had 75 to 80 percent of the county out of power,” said Banks County EMA/E-9-1-1 Director Deidra Moore. “We lost power at 9-1-1 and operated on generator there and at the jail and water departments and Fire/EMS for multiple days. We also lost internet and landlines. Our 9-1-1 trunks stayed up thankfully.”
Atlanta Dragway opened its campground and hosted six families from Brunswick.
Moore said Banks County experienced “very few injuries and no fatalities related to the storm directly.”
“In the coming days and weeks, we will begin long-term recovery,” Moore said. “I am currently working on a request for proposals to bid out the debris to get quotes from professional debris management companies to help us with final clean-up.”
Those price quotes will be presented to the county commission for consideration.
“We are in a FEMA declaration, as are all Georgia counties,” Moore said. “This means that we will get help with clean-up. Some things are in the works at the state level that we hope comes to fruition, such as help from National Guard and/or Army Corps of Engineers with the debris clean-up; this has been rumored but not confirmed to us officially yet. As you know Governor Deal flew the county Thursday and he has expressed to me that he is committed to helping us and the entire state with recovery.”
Moore said she is hopeful federal assistance to the county will increase in the coming days and weeks.
“In the interim, I am currently working on the public infrastructure side and working on debris and working to find out what we can do for some of our local families that have lost food due to power outages,” Moore said. “I will let you know as I learn more about any help we can get for them. Until then, there are Sequatchie, Bledsoe, Marion and Grundy counties in Tennessee that are going to be shipping items in to us to help families and debris workers in Banks and Habersham. They are sending items such as cleaning supplies and bottled water and they are talking about doing a football game between public safety agencies to raise money for those that may need it.”
Because of limited storage space, anyone interested in providing items to help in Banks County should contact Moore at (706) 677-3163 or [email protected] for specific needs.
Habersham County
In Habersham County, a Clarkesville woman was seriously injured when a tree fell on her as she attempted to walk to her house from a vehicle. Additionally, three individuals were taken to the hospital for treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning.
“We answered 836 calls Monday night when the storm hit that were related to trees and road hazards,” said Habersham E-9-1-1/EMA Director Lynn Smith. “Tuesday, we handled 681 that were reported the same way. I have no idea how many for power outages. This does not include medical emergencies and other type calls. This is more tree calls than we have had all year combined. Keep in mind this does not count the number of trees that were cut by first responders as they came up on them just to get to a location. We had close to 20 homes reported damaged."
The storm wreaked havoc on the county’s communications systems.
“The 9-1-1 Center lost power and Internet connection early in the storm,” Habersham County Manager Phil Sutton said in a statement. “Their primary radio system and the voice-over IP phone system was down. They went back to using the old analog radio system. Land lines and cell phones were also used to communicate during the storm.”
Power was restored to the 9-1-1 center in Mt. Airy Tuesday night, with most of the radio system operational except in the Tallulah Falls area. That outage was due to fiber issues and since has been repaired.
Again Tuesday, Habersham County school buses will not be able to serve Barron Drive from Stewart Lane to Rocky Branch Road, Dooley Road from Sanders Street to Buckhorn Road, Hancock Road, Holiday Road (beyond 176), Kinney Mill Road, Lakeside Drive, Lon Lyons Road, Piedmont Mountain Road, Ga. 197 North (from Watts Mill Road to Ga. 255 at Batesville General Store), and Wheeler Circle from Camille Street to Alto Street due to ongoing debris and other storm-related safety issues.
To help speed up the cleanup efforts of Habersham County, the following sites will open for drop-off of storm debris. Signage will be available at all three locations. These sites will be for residential debris only, not for household garbage. There will be no commercial debris accepted at these locations:
♦ County Fire Station 16, at 6357 Ga. 17, Clarkesville;
♦ County Fire Station 17, at 4455 The Orchard Road, Clarkesville;
♦ The old county landfill, 970 Frank Arrowood Road, Cornelia.
The sites open Tuesday, Sept. 19, and will be open from noon to 7 p.m. each day through Saturday and will remain open through 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30.
All locations will be closed on Sunday and Monday. As stated, the sites are for residential debris only and will be monitored. Commercial violators will be prosecuted.
Commercial users may use the Habersham County Landfill, 4900 Dicks Hill Parkway, Mt. Airy, during normal hours.
White County
White County is continuing to distribute water for Irma storm victims.
Bottled water by the case is available at White County EMA Headquarters, 1241 Helen Hwy., Cleveland. Persons needing water may receive two cases per car. For additional information, call (706) 865-9500.
Over the weekend, the White County Water Authority arranged a place just outside the fence at the gate to the authority’s treatment plant for anyone who needs water for use other than drinking.
Water Authority Director Edwin Nix said the water can be used for washing, flushing or anything but drinking. It must be boiled if used for drinking. A hose that is marked is available 24 hours a day until everyone’s power is restored.
White County Water Authority is located just south of White County High School on Highway 129 North, Cleveland.
As of Monday, White County has entered the recovery phase, which is always the longest phase, according to Public Safety Director David Murphy. The biggest part of this phase to direct people who need assistance to the proper agencies, like the American Red Cross, and then there is the job of cleanup and debris management.
Murphy said EMA officials are looking at ways they might assist residents with the disposal of vegetative debris, such as trees, limbs and leaves.
In White County, 13 residences and two businesses sustained major damage from the storm, but none was destroyed.
A man who called 9-1-1 Monday night, Sept. 11, reporting he was stranded on Poplar Stump Road north of Helen, because of trees in the roadway, Murphy said. It was 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, before personnel could help the man. In that instance, U.S. Forest Service personnel had to cut four trees out of the roadway to get to him, not including trees blocking Ga. 75 leading to the Forest Service road. The man, who had to ride out the storm in his car, was uninjured.
The lack of power and communication, including cell phone and Internet service, complicated things. According to Murphy, Verizon had three main cell towers completely out after the storm, and that complicated the communications process.
Murphy said the highlight of the event was the community coming together to help, including the county's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), churches and the community as a whole.
On Friday, Chief Judge Murphy C. Miller of the Enotah Judicial Circuit filed a declaration of judicial emergency, suspending, tolling or extending all court deadlines, time schedules or filing requirements for Sept. 12-14 in White County.
Municipalities
CORNELIA — Cornelia officials will offer debris removal following the same schedule as with the city’s leaf and brush pickup. Crews will begin in Ward 1 and work their way through the city picking up debris. City employees will not go into citizens’ yards to clean up debris, so it must be hauled to the curb. The cleanup will take several weeks to complete, so residents are asked to be patient.
LULA — The City of Lula has announced that Mayor Milton Turner is waiving the late fees for utility services due to Irma. Turner said he recognizes the burden placed on city residents and extended the grace period for water, sewer and garbage service until Sept. 25. Additionally, Turner removed many of the limits on yard waste collection about the 90-gallon limit. Anyone with questions can call (770) 869-3801.
MT. AIRY — The Town of Mt. Airy will be providing Irma-related brush pickup Sept. 25-29. Residents should pile the brush next to the road for pickup, making sure to not block the view of oncoming traffic.
