Nearly 3 months after Helene, gates locked at Augusta cemeteries
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Gates are locked at Augusta city cemeteries nearly three months after Hurricane Helene hit our area.
Families have not been able to visit the final resting places of their loved ones because of the devastation.
However, the process for cleaning these cemeteries is a very delicate thing.
City leaders are dealing with large amounts of debris inside Augusta’s city-owned cemeteries including Magnolia, Cedar Grove and Westview.
Leaders want you to know they are working to clean things up as delicately as they can.
‘Very upsetting’: Families locked out of city-owned cemeteries
Families hoping to visit loved ones at local cemeteries are greeted with chained-up front gates and no answers. Many have been closed since Helene hit, but there’s no word on when they’ll reopen.
Beyond the locked gates at Magnolia Cemetery, the place looks anything but peaceful.
“Cemeteries and historic properties have a different process,” said Steve Cassell, ISM Engineering. “They have to go through a review first.”
Which comes from FEMA and the state historic preservation office.
“What we’ve gotten approval to do right now is just remove the debris off of the graves without disturbing the root balls, you know, the uprooted trees,” said Cassell.
The next step is where things can get tricky.
MORE FROM NEWS 12
Hurricane Helene: CSRA continues on path to recovery
- FEMA gives Augusta more time to clean up Helene debris
- 2 months after Helene, FEMA continues to open recovery centers
- Everything you need to know about applying for FEMA aid
- What FEMA can and can’t do for victims of Hurricane Helene
- Pace of Helene cleanup frustrates many across the CSRA
“We have to then come in with an archaeologist to come in and sift through that stuff and figure out what’s been there and how to rebury it,” said Cassell.
A delicate process for all involved.
“We don’t want to actually pull up any remains or anything else that could be under there, but so far it looks like there are some underground bricks and stuff like that, but we haven’t discovered anything yet,” he said.
Because the last thing workers want is to disrupt these final resting spots even more.
“The last thing we want to do is do more damage,” said Cassell. “It’s already been done. The cemetery is over 200 years old and we want to at least get it back to as close to normal as it was.”
Fort Eisenhower slaying: Victim, suspect weren’t in Army
We learned Monday morning that neither the suspect nor the victim of the Fort Eisenhower shooting were active of the Army.
And as far as costs go –
“All this is reimbursable from my standpoint, but you know, to be reimbursable, you have to follow the process to make sure that you do everything that you know within the guidelines,” he said.
Doing so with the goal of preserving and protecting.
“They had to do the evaluation before we could even come in here,” said Cassell.”So letting the general public in here before the officials that come in here and see it would have been not proper.”
Cassell says they don’t have a date right now as to when the cemeteries will open, but they are working with FEMA on the clean-up.
Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
