Coffee County is reeling from the fury Hurricane Helene unleashed the community. Widespread power outages, tens of thousands of downed trees, and millions in property damage are but a few of the effects felt locally. Officials have also confirmed one fatality as a result of the storm.
Hurricane Helene brought sustained winds in excess of 90 mph, with gusts likely in the triple digits, as she downed power lines, snapped poles, destroyed homes, and toppled trees throughout Coffee County. She left a swath of destruction the likes of which Coffee County has never seen.
Now that Helene has moved on, the focus has shifted to what to do next. Citizens banded together to clear roadways, clean yards, remove trees from homes, and meet other needs of their friends and neighbors. Officials – both local and state – are in Coffee County mobilizing to continue the work of opening up roads, restoring power and water, and ensuring the safety of citizens.
“Right now it’s chaos. But it’s organized chaos,” said Douglas city manager Charlie Davis Saturday morning.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- A contractor will be in Coffee County Saturday afternoon to oversee debris removal. Their first objective will be to clear roadways from white line to white line. Once that is accomplished, they will begin countywide debris removal. When you clean your yard/home/property, place all debris on the side of the road. Please separate the debris into piles: One pile for trees, limbs, leaves, etc.; another pile for shingles and construction debris; another pile for metal, tin, etc. Please do not put household trash in these piles. If crews see household trash, they will not pick up the piles. This will take a while so please be patient.
- National Guard troops are in town and more are arriving. The aforementioned contractor will begin working in Douglas and make its way to the outlying areas. The Guard troops will start in the outlying communities and areas and work their way back toward Douglas.
- Debris removal could take as long as six months.
- In Douglas, limited water is up. By late Saturday afternoon, Douglas citizens should have water. At the time of this posting, Ambrose and Nicholls have water. Broxton, however, does not.
- Regarding electricity: For the city, transmission is down. The city circuits should be loaded shortly but some of the circuits will need to be rebuilt. The process of rebuilding all the circuits could take as long as two weeks. Some citizens will have power quickly, others will take longer. City officials have asked that everyone remain patient while they work on the circuit system.
- In the county, crews are working from substation to substation. Some are in better shape than others, and some will have to be rebuilt. The process of restoring power to the county is estimated to take four weeks.
- State search and rescue teams are in Coffee County going door to door. State chainsaw crews are also in town working.
DouglasNow will provide updates as more information comes in.