ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp urged coastal Georgians Tuesday to stay off the roads so cleanup crews can take advantage of a lull in the heavy rains and flooding brought by Tropical Storm Debby.
“Do not let this storm lull you to sleep,” Kemp said during a news conference at the State Operations Center in Southeast Atlanta. “Models show the rain will come back. Give us time to clear the roads and get power back on.”
Debby made landfall Monday in the Big Bend region of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane before being downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved slowly across South Georgia and into South Carolina. Four people were killed in Florida, and a 19-year-old man died in Moultrie when a tree fell on his home.
President Joe Biden issued a federal disaster declaration for Georgia Monday night. Kemp said the order was for evacuation and sheltering purposes only, although only a few nursing homes and senior living facilities in the storm’s path were evacuated.
“We never anticipated high winds for an extended period of time,” said Chris Stallings, director of the Georgia Emergency Management/Homeland Security Agency (GEMA). “We knew this was going to be a water event.”
Indeed, the slow moving storm dumped heavy rains on South Georgia, along the coast, and up through Augusta throughout Monday and into Tuesday. Kemp said Debby could circle back from South Carolina and drop an additional four to five inches of rain on coastal Georgia, according to one storm model, and up to eight more inches under a second model.
“I don’t believe this storm is done with us yet,” Kemp said. “This event is not over.”
About 47,000 Georgians were without electricity Tuesday morning, as utility crews sought to restore power while the rain slackened. The ports of Savannah and Brunswick were closed on Tuesday.
Maj. General Dwayne Wilson, adjutant general of the Georgia National Guard, said about 300 members of the Guard have been deployed along the coast and up to Augusta. An executive order Kemp issued on Monday authorized the Guard to deploy up to 2,000 troops.
Will Lanxton, a meteorologist with GEMA, said the additional rainfall forecasters are expecting could still be affecting Coastal Georgia as late as Thursday and Friday.
“This weekend looks good for recovery efforts,” he said.