ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp outlined the tremendous toll of Hurricane Helene on Georgia in remarks at the State Capitol Thursday, with 33 dead in the state and already more than $400 million in economic damage.
"I think a lot of people got blindsided," the governor said, describing the stretch from Valdosta to Augusta like a "230, 240 mile tornado went through our state."
Ongoing recovery efforts include rebuilding power networks, with 270,000 customers still in the dark in Georgia, according to the governor, and delivering resources to the hardest-hit communities.
So far the Biden administration has put 41 Georgia counties under a federal disaster declaration, and Gov. Kemp said he and the state's bipartisan congressional delegation are working to have more added after initially requesting the declaration for 90 counties.
The governor has toured the state in the past several days since Helene swept through Florida's Big Bend region, then moved north, bringing widespread damage and the most loss of life in a hurricane since Katrina to Georgia and the Carolinas.
Kemp spoke to some of the heartbreaking stories he's heard from Georgians. Those included the deaths of 27-year-old mother and her one-month-old twin boys when a tree fell on their home in McDuffie County; the deaths of a 4-year-old and 7-year-old in Washington County when a tree fell and trapped them in a burning home; people who were trapped for days before being rescued; and farmers who have lost everything.
But he also spoke optimistically about the resiliency of Georgians and their determination to help one another -- a sheriff cooking meals for people in Glascock County, a small church in Johnson County feeding 400-600 people daily.
"The people telling those stories, doing that good work, reminds you of what a resilient state that we live in and what good people we have," Gov. Kemp said. "It's so heartwarming to see people coming together in times like this and in a time of need."
You can re-watch the governor's full remarks in the video player above this story or in the YouTube player below.