GEMA warns of the potential for significant damage all across Georgia

ATLANTA — Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security (GEMA/HS) is warning there will be significant damage and power outages all across the state.

GEMA/HS Director Chris Stallings said there could be significant damage from this storm in all 159 Georgia counties.

“It is now projected that it will make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane as it enters the Apalachee Bay area,” Stallings said.

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State Meteorologist Will Lanxton thinks that will mean it will still be a devastating Category 3 as it enters Georgia.

“I think we will see Category 3-level impacts in extreme southern Georgia, southwest,” Lanxton said.

Channel 2′s Richard Elliot contacted Sumter County Emergency Management Agency Director Jerry Harmon, who said Helene could still be a full-blown hurricane when it roars through south Georgia, including towns like Americus and Plains.

“We’re about as ready as we can with my staff. My motto is prepare for the worst and hope for the best and I think we’re as prepared as we can be,” Harmon said.

Plains, Georgia is preparing for former President Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday next week.

Elliot spoke with his grandson, Jason Carter, about getting ready for Helene.

He said his grandfather and his protectors are ready.

“Yeah, the great thing about my grandfather is that there are a lot of people taking care of his house. So we’re... he’s going to be pretty safe down there. It’s the same house he’s been in since 1961,” Carter said.

In addition to the damage to crops and orchards and extensive flooding across south Georgia, Stallings said the damage may be so widespread that there’s a possibility of seeing mudslides because of all the rain in the north Georgia mountains.

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