Hurricane Matthew barrels through Georgia’s coast






 

 

It began on Thursday when cars filled the highways as evacuees made their way to safety. Stores and restaurants received an influx of customers as evacuees stocked up on food and other necessities. All hotels in the area were completely booked the entire weekend as Hurricane Matthew prepared to make his grand entrance into the coast of Georgia.

Last Wednesday, Gov. Nathan Deal expanded the State of Emergency to 17 additional counties, including Burke, which brought the total to 30. Gov. Deal urged Georgians to “to remain calm, be prepared and make informed, responsible decisions” as Hurricane Matthew made its way to the state.

The massive storm proved to be just as devastating as predicted by several weather experts. Many are now left to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Matthew swamped Georgia’s coast with heavy rainfall, flooding and strong winds.

Fortunately, the city of Waynesboro was not in the central area of the storm; however, there were some significant signs of Matthew’s wrath in the area.

Traffic was heavy coming up Highway 25 North into Waynesboro as evacuees made their way to safety.

Traffic was heavy coming up Highway 25 North into Waynesboro as evacuees made their way to safety.

Shelter for Evacuees

A large number of evacuees began making preparations as early as a week in advance. All local hotels, as well as the Wisteria Hall Bed and Breakfast, were booked to capacity for the weekend.

A number of evacuees who were not able to find accommodations had to spend the night in their vehicles.

Traffic Issues

Waynesboro received an increase in traffic Thursday afternoon; however, traffic went back to its normal rate once the storm passed.

“There was no heavy traffic after late Friday evening,” said Waynesboro Police Chief Augustus Palmer III. “I rode around town Saturday morning, and the roadways were lightly traveled and vehicle traffic returned back to normal on Saturday afternoon.”

On Saturday, there was a major gas pipeline leak near Perkins. A section of Highway 25 had to be closed between Waynesboro and Millen which forced incoming traffic to reroute.

Power Outages and Damages

As of 7 p.m. on Sunday, Georgia Power had approximately 160,000 customers without power in Coastal Georgia and power had been restored to more than 150,000 customers.

Burke County experienced issues with power outages as Matthew’s heavy rains made its way to the area. About 300 Georgia Power customers in Sardis and Girard lost power, including a few other sporadic cases in other areas of Burke.

“We started having trouble late Friday night into the early morning hours of Saturday,” said Cam Parker, Georgia Power Area Manager. “Crews worked around the clock from 7 a.m. Friday until 7 a.m. Sunday to respond to the trouble calls.”

All power was restored to Burke customers by 7:30 p.m. on Saturday evening, with the exception of a couple of new calls that came in overnight Saturday.

At the height of the storm, Planters EMC had 6,554 members out of power. As of 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Planters EMC had approximately 77 members without power, including four in Burke.

“Our men will continue with the dangerous work of storm restoration and will be away from their homes and families even longer,” said Randy Hill, Planters EMC Member Services Manager.

The county had approximately 12 trees down, but little to no property damage.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.