WHITE COUNTY, Ga. — As Hurricane Helene inches closer to Georgia, emergency management officials held a meeting in White County to prepare for the impacts.
Don Strength is the Deputy Emergency Management Director and 911 Division Chief for White County Public Safety. Strength said that they're bracing for impacts.
“We’re preparing for the absolute worst. We took on a lot of damage during Hurricane Irma in 2017. So we kind of use Irma as a benchmark when we talk about storms,” Strength said. “Of course we had, county-wide, trees down, power outages for days, so that’s what we’re preparing for.
He said they’re working on staffing plans to make sure all bases are covered.
“We’re making sure that we have adequate personnel on duty in our 911 center, our fire department, our emergency medical services, law enforcement," Strength said. “We’re basically planning to make sure we have adequate staff to be able to respond to emergencies to clear the roadways as soon as possible.”
Strength added they’re also working with Georgia Department of Transportation and other road departments to ensure not only a good line of communication, but also a back up way to communicate.
As of now, Strength said his top concerns for White County are wind and its impacts, as well as flooding.
“We feel like there probably will be widespread power outage. We know that this is going to be a storm that is unprecedented because it’s going to affect every county in the state of Georgia,” Strength stated. “But, because of the Appalachian chain up here in Northeast Georgia, we could also experience some extremely high wind and flooding rain.”
He added there are several flood-prone areas.
“The Chattahoochee River actually starts in Helen, Georgia. The Chattahoochee River does not typically fluctuate that much, but in a tropical situation, it certainly can," Strength stated.
Strength said he expects the height of Helene to come into White County Friday before dawn. He estimated it will start 4, 5 or 6 a.m. and go through noon.
He said people should be prepared to go three to five days without power.
“Have everything that you could think of that you might need during that time to be safe, and we’ll get to you as quick as we can,” Strength said.
Strength encouraged everyone to have multiple ways of getting weather information.