‘This is terrible’: Bringing storm relief to Washington County
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SANDERSVILLE, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - FEMA workers were out in full force Monday as several more disaster relief centers opened across our area.
These centers have everything you need to get help. Whether it’s for you, your entire family or even your small business.
Washington County is still cleaning up the remains from Hurricane Helene and the county’s Emergency Management Director Russell Riner says they are in recovery mode. Their new FEMA Disaster Recovery Center is a part of the county’s recovery.
The small community of Sandersville took a big hit from Hurricane Helene
“I was just in awe. I go like ‘Oh my lord this is terrible’”, said Barbara Reebes, Sandersville resident.
Riner said he has never seen anything like the damage that came with Helene.
“I started emergency management in the year 2000. So going on 25 years and I’ve never seen this kind of devastation,” said Riner.
New FEMA centers open for Helene victims across the CSRA
FEMA is on the ground and ready to provide new in-person services with centers in Richmond, Washington, Aiken, Barnwell and Saluda counties, and more to come.
What were once neighborhoods, now look more like forests.
“The miles per hour of this wind from Hurricane Helene was unprecedented for our county,” said Riner.
Leaving many neighbors unsure about their future.
“They didn’t know where to begin because we never had it like this before in Washington County,” said Reebes.
This FEMA Disaster Recovery Center is another first for the county.
“I’ve just never seen the kind of help before because we never needed it, but we needed it this time and they really responded,” said Riner. “It was just overwhelming that the , it was really a lot of help for me and our first responder community.”
FEMA says they have roughly 10 representatives inside the center in Sandersville.
“You’re going to come in, sit down with the FEMA representative, walk them through exactly what your situation is, what your needs are, what type of personal property that you may have lost or have damaged,” said Michael Hart, FEMA representative. “You’ll talk to them about what type of damage was done to your property, to your home, and then they’ll walk you through what you’re eligible to receive as far as assistance, get you set up with an inspector to come out to your property to do the assessment there.”
FEMA calls this center a critical first step.
FEMA disaster recovery center now open in Aiken, Barnwell
FEMA has opened a disaster recovery center in Aiken and Barnwell counties along with a few others as of Monday morning.
“We work very closely with our emergency management counterparts in the state, in the county, with our local partners, and state representatives, and they assess the damage,” said Hart. “If there is a need to open up a disaster recovery center, then we do everything that we can to make sure that those centers are open in a place that’s accessible.”
The goal is to provide the service to as many people as possible.
“We’re leaning on each other as a community, our churches, our neighbors, our friends,” said Riner. “We as government and first responders, we depend on each other with something this large and they have really come out and ed each other.”
In a small town like this one, leaning on each other is critical.
Riner says anyone in the surrounding counties can come to the center in Sandersville.
Other relief centers in our area include:
- Augusta: At the HUB for Community Innovation, 631 Chafee Ave. The office is open Tuesday through Friday 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. And on Saturdays from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
- Barnwell: Barnwell Regional Airport, 155 State Road S-6-398, open Oct. 13-15 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Batesburg-Leesville: Batesburg-Leesville fire station, 537 W. Church St., open Oct. 13-16 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Ridge Spring: The Saluda County Emergency Management Division will be offering assistance in filling out their applications on Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Ridge Spring Civic Center on West Main Street.
- North Augusta: Nancy Carson Library, 135 Edgefield Road, open Oct. 14-17 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Sandersville: 514B N. Harris St. The center will open on Monday, Oct. 14, at 1 p.m. Hours are: Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m.
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