We’re keeping you updated on damage reports and the latest info from our Southeast Georgia counties after Hurricane Helene powered north through Georgia.
Hurricane Helene’s eyewall began moving ashore along the Florida Big Bend region just after 10 p.m. Thursday and the storm made “landfall” around 11 p.m. 10 miles west-southwest of Perry just east of the Aucilla River.
The Category 4 storm was packing “extremely dangerous” maximum sustained winds of 140 mph and gusts up to 155 mph.
Ware County
Our News4JAX crew spotted downed trees across the Waycross area, where officials are asking everyone to stay off the roads if possible until crews can remove the debris.
“Please stay home so we can finish doing the assessment and checking people for injuries and rescuing the people that need to be rescued,” said Waycross Battalion Chief Jim Blackburn.
Few places had power as downed powerlines littered the area, and damage could be seen at the fire station headquarters in Waycross, where the fire safety trailer tipped on its side and the shelter that covered it crumpled to the ground.
The station’s radio antenna also fell, damaging some personal vehicles in the parking lot overnight.
Blackburn said the area got its roughest weather around 1:30 a.m., when they had to pull all first responders in from the field because of the high wind speeds.
“The weather changed dramatically overnight,” Blackburn said. “We went back out about 4 o’clock this morning and damage is widespread all over Waycross.”
Blackburn said his department was having trouble getting first responders in to work because they are trapped in their homes by fallen trees and debris.
“We’re just getting crews in to get out and assess the damage,” he said. “Everyone’s coming to work.”
Some of the worst of the damage was in the Cherokee Heights neighborhood, where a large tree toppled and took out a string of power lines across from Waycross Middle School.
Jacob Jones is a FEMA contractor who usually goes to help others clean up after a bad storm.
Jones has worked through a lot of storms including ones in Louisiana, Texas, and Naples but none of them compare to Helene.
“Naples was flooded, that’s all it was. This was… I’ve worked category two storms, I’ve been on call worked them and that was nothing like last night,” Jones said. “Last night was hell on earth.”
“I never anything like this in the last 20 years that I’ve been living here,” Mark Refroe said.
Glynn County
Heavy winds resulting from Hurricane Helene have led to widespread power outages and trees down across Glynn County on Friday morning.
As of 5 a.m. Friday, electricity was out for nearly 80% of all county customers.
At the same time, Brunswick and Glynn County Public Works crews are working more than a hundred scenes with downed trees, many of those trees on power lines.
This combination means hazardous road conditions throughout and citizens are strongly encouraged to stay off the roads.
Furthermore, thanks to diminishing winds, all first responder agencies in Glynn County – police, fire and public works – have returned to full response status. However, due to the high number of calls, public safety will be forced to prioritize calls during the coming hours.
Any person seeing downed utility lines or a downed tree is asked to report the damage by calling 912-554-7111.
Citizens are also asked to refrain from travel in order to maintain their own safety as well as avoid interfering with repair crews.
Due to on-going concerns over weather and road conditions as well as utility outages throughout the county, both Glynn County and City of Brunswick will close all offices, including Glynn County Court, on Friday.
Administrative services and court functions will resume when Glynn County and City of Brunswick re-open as scheduled on Monday, Sept. 30.