Tropical Storm Helene is close to hurricane strength 8 a.m. Sept. 25, 2024, with winds at 70 mph.
Helene reached hurricane status on Wednesday and is expected to reach Category 4 strength winds as it makes landfall starting Thursday and marches up through much of Georgia to possibly include the Augusta area.
“Our team has put together requests to the Emergency Management Compact,” said Chris Stallings, director of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, during a media briefing on Wednesday. “We’ve requested an additional fleet of generators from the state of New Jersey.
“We’re also prepping a state logistics staging area where a lot of these resources will be moved to middle Georgia to get to areas in south Georgia a lot faster once the storm has settled.”
The National Weather Service issued a Tropical Storm Warning at 5:22 p.m. Wednesday for the Augusta area. While rainfall is expected much of Thursday, forecasters noted that “tropical storm conditions” might kick in Thursday evening with thunderstorms and heavy rainfall. Showers will continue Friday morning with the skies gradually clearing as the day progresses, noted the weather service.
Starting Thursday, 250 Georgia National Guard men and women will be activated, noted Stallings.
“They will be staged for rapid deployment with transportation teams to move resources as needed around the state,” he said.
Hurricane Helene is expected to make landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday, said Stallings.
“Southwest and south central Georgia are under hurricane warnings and should expect hurricane conditions beginning tomorrow evening, lasting through Friday,” he said. “Hurricane warnings with this latest update have been extended up to the Macon-Columbus line. So that’s a little further in than we anticipated. And now tropical storm winds are expected to extend all the way through Georgia, up to the Tennessee line and possibly further.”
Stallings said the worst of the storm will come Thursday night with the “remnants of Helene” leaving the state early Friday. He said the storm is moving faster than anticipated.
“Fortunately, following most of these severe weather events, there’s extremely good weather afterwards,” he said.
Tips on how to pack emergency kit: Hurricane Helene fast approaching, emergency preparedness is key
During the rougher times of the storm, Stallings said it is important to have ready an emergency preparedness kit.
“This includes having a family emergency plan readiness kits, securing your home against wind and water damage,” he said. “As a reminder, once speeds get above 35 miles per hour, we can’t get bucket trucks out. We can’t get any of our first responders out. We’ll be unable to reach you due to the dangerous conditions.”
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Erica Van Buren is the climate change reporter for The Augusta Chronicle, part of the USA TODAY Network. Connect with her at EVanBuren@gannett.com or on X: @EricaVanBuren32.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Emergency resources deployed in preparation of Hurricane Helene
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Publish date : 2024-09-25 14:44:00
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