'Major Disaster' Declared In GA After Destructive Helene, Biden Says

GEORGIA — President Joe Biden has declared Georgia a "major disaster" after Hurricane Helene leveled parts of the Peach State and caused widespread damage, outages and deaths.

As some Georgia areas are working to rebuild, the White House on Tuesday said Biden has approved federal funding for some counties.

Gov. Brian Kemp revealed Monday that he had asked the president to expedite an emergency declaration to allow for a quicker flow of funding.

According to the White House, Biden's order permits the dollars to benefit Appling, Brooks, Coffee, Columbia, Jefferson, Liberty, Lowndes, Pierce, Richmond, Tattnall and Toombs counties.

State and eligible local governments and some private nonprofits in these counties qualify for the funding on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work, the White House.

Grants could go toward temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help people and business owners recover from the effects Helene, the White House said.

The money can also be used on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

The White House said assessments are still being conducted, and additional counties may later be awarded federal assistance.

Biden's approval comes amid weather officials monitoring more tropical systems waters surrounding the U.S. southern region.

The National Hurricane Center issued advisories for Tropical Storm Kirk in the Atlantic Ocean, and forecasters said a tropical disturbance could strengthen and possibly enter the Gulf of Mexico.

Georgia and neighboring states could see rain and winds from the system as cleanup from Hurricane Helene continues. As of Tuesday morning, more than 130 deaths have been tallied from the storm, including 25 in Georgia, with about 600 people still missing in the Southeast from flash floods.

The NHC said Tuesday the likelihood of the disturbance transforming into a depression in the next two days is 10 percent, however, the probability will increase to 40 percent in the next week.

The low-pressure system, bringing disorganized showers and thunderstorms in the southwestern Caribbean Sea, could be favored by environmental conditions and potentially form a tropical depression by the week's end, the NHC said.

States along the U.S. Gulf Coast are advised to monitor the storm's progress, the NHC said.

AccuWeather meteorologists believe the Caribbean and the Gulf may continue to be a potential tropical development zone in early October.

The forecasters said up to two tropical storms could take shape in this zone, possibly following Helene's path and aiming for the southeastern U.S.

Though a new storm may not menace the U.S. the way Helene did, AccuWeather said a tropical threat remains posed.

"A zone of low pressure will form across the western Caribbean, accompanied by clusters of tropical downpours and thunderstorms over the next several days," AccuWeather Meteorologist Alyssa Glenny said in a news release. "This feature will shift into a zone with decent prospects for tropical development with abnormally warm ocean waters and where pockets of limited disruptive breezes (wind shear) are currently low. Due to these factors, our team of expert meteorologists is highlighting a high risk for tropical development."

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The southwesterly wind shear is expected to pick up by the end of the week, and as they increase, they could generate both moisture "and any tropical feature that has formed or is trying to form to be guided to the north or east later next week into the following weekend," AccuWeather said.

Contributing factors for the strength and direction of the wind shear depend on the guidance of downpours and gusty winds, AccuWeather said. Forecasters noted rainfall will thrive around the western Caribbean and southern Gulf this week.

Then, the rain could travel "anywhere from Louisiana to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas in the U.S.," AccuWeather said.

If the sheering breezes stay frail, the trajectory would lean toward Louisiana, AccuWeather said. However, the predictions state if the southwesterly steering breezes strengthen, Florida and maybe coastal Georgia and the Carolinas could be a target.

All of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, most of Georgia and parts of South Carolina and Louisiana could be threatened by flooding and damaging winds later this week and into early next week, AccuWeather forecasted.

A second tropical disturbance, stirring in the Atlantic near the Cabo Verde Islands, has a higher chance of turning into a depression. As of late Tuesday morning, the probability sat at 80 percent transformation in the next two days.

Tropical Storm Kirk was gaining strength in the Atlantic and had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. Kirk was cruising at 13 mph toward the west-northwest as of Tuesday morning.

AccuWeather said Kirk could become a major hurricane by this week's end.

"High surf from the growing storm may reach Bermuda and the east coast of the United States this weekend and early next week," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Reneé Duff said in the release.

From the NHC's model, the U.S. is forecast to be spared by Kirk's wrath.

The U.S. has nearly made it through half of the 2024 Atlantic storm names, as shown by AccuWeather. The remaining names are Leslie, Milton, Nadine, Oscar, Patty, Rafael, Sara, Tony, Valerie and William.

Hurricane season is not expected to end until Nov. 30.

Life After Hurricane Helene

As hurricane season continues, Georgia is still suffering from the impacts of Hurricane Helene, which showed no mercy to the Peach State.

"This storm literally spared no one," Kemp said Monday regarding Hurricane Helene's fatal punch to the state last week, as he and various leaders met in hard-hit Augusta.

Kemp, who toured areas affected by Helene, visited Valdosta on Sunday. Former President Donald Trump visited Valdosta Monday. President Joe Biden said Monday he will travel to hurricane stricken-states when it does not hamper rescue and recovery efforts.

The death toll in the state stood at 25 people killed by Helene, which entered South Georgia on Friday as Category 2 storm before ripping northward through the state.

"Literally, this hurricane, it looks like a 250-mile-wide tornado has hit," Kemp said. "The thing that's unusual about this storm (is) it's unprecedented for a Category 2 hurricane to actually make landfall in Georgia ... Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with all those Georgians who lose their (lives), their families and their local communities."

Kemp said of those killed were Pierce County assistant fire chief Vernon "Leon" Davis, a 27-year-old McDuffie County mother and her 1-month twin boys, a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy in Washington County and a 58-year-old Dublin man.

August Mayor Garnett Johnson previously told WJBF three people died in Richmond County.

In Laurens County, two people were killed. First Coast News reported one person died after a tree fell on their home, and the other person was killed in a car crash.

A Moultrie resident's car crashed into a downed tree, killing the person, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

The Georgia Department of Transportation previously reported an alligator was killed after wandering onto Interstate 75 north in Crisp County during the storm.

After making landfall near the Florida Big Bend, Helene swept South Georgia and raced north through metro Atlanta before traveling into Tennessee, the Carolinas and Virginia. AccuWeather reported more than 130 people were killed in all six states.

Aside from Georgia, this includes at least 36 people in North Carolina, 25 people in South Carolina, 11 people in Florida, four people in Tennessee and two people in Virginia, AccuWeather said.

Aside from Kemp's state of emergency, which expires at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a public health emergency and the Georgia Supreme Court issued a judicial emergency Monday.

The judicial emergency, which allows for some deadlines in ongoing court proceedings to be extended, is expected to last for 30 days. Patch has obtained a copy of the order.

No Red or Blue Lines

Kemp, a Republican governor, said the "long recovery" efforts in Georgia are bipartisan. Officials proclaimed political parties are not of note regarding responding to Helene.

Biden approved on Thursday an emergency declaration in Georgia, making federal assistance available at the state and local levels amid the life-threatening Hurricane Helene.

Both U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock have visited parts of Georgia, as well as U.S. House reps. Rick Allen and Austin Scott, Kemp said.

"We will work in a bipartisan way on disaster relief in this state with our federal, state and local partners," Kemp said.

Still in the Dark

Hundreds of thousands of Georgia residents remained without power Monday.

Georgia Power, which had a peak of 800,000 customers without electricity at one point, had 370,000 people still without power Monday, Kemp said. He added the statewide power company had 15,000 workers working in recovery.

"Hurricane Helene has been an historic event, becoming our most destructive hurricane, damaging infrastructure across the state. ... Our teams will continue to work around the clock to restore power as safely and quickly as possible," Georgia Power said in its latest status.

With electricity still an issue, Kemp said at least 573 traffic signals remained damaged. He stressed drivers should treat areas where these signals are located like four-way intersections.

'We Will Not Waiver'

At least 360 drinking water sites were serving more than 1 million customers, said Director Chris Stallings of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security. He noted there were 78 wastewater plants needing repairs.

Cell phone services did not escape the wrath of Helene. Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile all sustained outages as a result of the storm.

AT&T had 258 sites out of service, and Verizon's toll sat 328 sites without service as of Monday. T-Mobile was working 100 sites from generators, Stallings said.

More than 500 people are either staying in shelters or using them for showers statewide.

Georgia deployed 1,500 military personnel to offer assistance in the state's response to Helene, Maj. Gen. Dwayne Wilson said.

GEMA/HS has compiled a digital site of shelters, ways to report damage, ways to find loved ones, parks open for evacuees and cleanup resources.

"We will not waver until we get everything put back together," Kemp said.