STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — Khabir Muttalib is hunkering down at a restaurant in Stone Mountain Village before he hunkers down at home ahead of Hurricane Helene's arrival in Georgia. He said he got a taste of what the storm could bring when the power went out for hours because of a cold front-powered storm that generated Wednesday.
"The rain is so heavy," Muttalib said. "I was sitting in here, eating some food with friends, shook hands and the whole power went out."
More power outages may be on the way. Chris Stallings, the director of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, urges people to prepare now by making emergency kits with enough food, water and medicine to last someone three days.
"You need to be able to shelter and hunker in place until it's passed," Stallings said. "When those trees start to topple, they take lines down with them. We're going to see some significant power outages. Probably like nothing we've seen."
Electric utilities across the state, including Georgia Power, have crews ready to respond. Georgia Power spokesman Matthew Kent said downed power lines would be the biggest safety risk in this storm.
"If there's damage and you see a downed power line, don't go near it," Kent said. "Every storm is different, so right now we're placing crews where we think the storm will not hit, where it'll be safest so we can dispatch them as soon as possible."
Georgia Power said it was ready to dispatch as many crews as necessary. But because Hurricane Helene will impact much of the state, Georgia Power will also have to lean on out-of-state crews and resources. The same goes for Georgia EMC's. They will have extra power poles, transformers and wires on deck to respond once Helene blows through.
Some stores in Stone Mountain said they would close Thursday due to the anticipated impacts from Hurricane Helene. Khabir Muttalib said he would get his essentials over the next few hours to be ready once the storm comes.
"When the electricity goes out, it kind of makes you put things in perspective," Muttalib said. "Prepared is a good word because you just don't know how it's going to go."