ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – A majority of homes and businesses in Atlantic Beach were still without power Friday afternoon after Hurricane Helene moved through the area bringing strong wing gusts that toppled trees.
Residents were out Friday cleaning up fallen debris and trees. Some said their power was restored at 2 p.m. but others were still waiting.
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The City of Atlantic Beach said three feeder circuits sustained significant damage from the high wind.
“Multiple spans of overhead wire are down on each circuit, and dozens of trees have fallen, causing additional damage to the distribution system. JEA has a tree crew, three line crews, four contract crews working to restore service in Atlantic Beach. JEA assures the City of Atlantic Beach that the crews will keep working until electricity is fully restored in our community,” officials said in a statement.
Hanna Park is also without power and closed until further notice as crews are hard at work cleaning up the debris littering the park.
Carol Wolber and her husband were helping clean up the mess on Friday. They were staying at Hanna Park in their RV but moved into the overflow lot just outside the park to ride out the storm.
Wolber said the wind was intense after midnight but things could have been much worse.
“Just some downed branches and a lot of debris,” Wolber said. “Nothing super major though, some larger branches but nothing really crazy. We’ll get a lot of [the cleanup] done in a few days it won’t be too long.”