Florida, Georgia prepare for Hurricane Helene’s arrival

As residents of Florida and Georgia continue to wait for Hurricane Helene’s arrival, officials in those states continue to prepare.

“We are well prepared, but this is going to be a big storm,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp told Fox News Channel. “… This storm is going to … be coming through the state of Georgia for a very long time. It’s literally going to be a statewide event. It’s going to affect all 159 counties.

“The thing that’s interesting about this storm is it may not be one of the highest category storms we’ve had, but it’s one of the biggest in the Atlantic when you think about the [wind shear] and how wide the storm is — four to 500 miles wide,” Kemp added in an interview with Neil Cavuto. “So we’re having a lot of rain right now and going to have more later, which is going to cause trees to go down, power to go out, and we’re going to have hurricane-force winds all the way up to middle Georgia, around Macon.”

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The Georgia Department of Transportation’s Southeast District maintenance manager said crews are ready to respond to damage as soon as it’s safe.

“We have 260 employees ready to respond once it’s safe to do so after Hurricane Helene moves through areas in Southeast Georgia. Crews have emergency response equipment loaded and ready to go,” Southeast District Maintenance Manager Brian Scarbrough said in a release. “We want to assure [citizens] that we are not just prepared for our district, but we also have plans in place to mobilize to other districts to assist if needed.”

Georgia DOT’s Southeast District encompasses 26 counties and borders Florida and South Carolina.

“Every storm is different,” FEMA Deputy Press Secretary Jayce Genco told Sightseers’ Delight. “And the impacts of every storm are different, and the locations of every storm are different. So that’s why it’s important for folks to be as prepared as possible, to have their plan.”

In South Carolina, Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that the state’s law against price gouging is now in effect since Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency because of Hurricane Helene. In Charleston, South Carolina, Mayor William Cogswell  activated the Active Flooding Mitigation Plan to best combat the heavy rainfall and potential flood risks from the storm.