Hurricane Helene leaves Georgia community in ruins as families brace for long power outages

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Fear lingers in this hard-hit city, where trees toppled onto houses and several downtown buildings were destroyed. Anxious families worry their community could be without power for weeks in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

Valdosta residents seeking bottled water, ice, tarps and food passed through an ever-growing line of cars Saturday morning at the Lowndes County Civic Center.

The biggest concern, some said, was the massive power outage in their city and the uncertainty of when the lights would return.

“It’s so widespread because we got a direct hit,” Ronney Bythwood, 71, said after his truck was loaded up with supplies.

More than half a million customers statewide are without power, Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday in Valdosta near the civic center.

Bythwood said that after Hurricane Idalia last August, he and his wife lost power at their home for five days. But given the extent of the damage he saw in his community and beyond, he is worried they could now be without power “for weeks.”

“It’s going to take a lot longer. We’ve got a lot, a lot of damage,” he said. “This is like a war zone.”

As of Saturday, nearly all of Lowndes County remained without power. Pitch-black businesses lined streets, traffic lights were down and people searched for miles for the few gas stations open that could provide fuel for their generators. 

Nekisha Williams, 34, said she and her family had “no lights, no power and no running water.”

Concerned for her mother and children, she drove to the civic center for help “with whatever they can give.”

Williams said her roof and sidings were badly damaged by the storm.

“All that’s gone,” she said.

In the city’s downtown, several buildings were destroyed, including a two-story building that once housed dozens of vendors. The roof caved in and an entire wall of bricks was blown away, scattering hundreds of red bricks on the ground.

Roy Rhodes, 73, arrived Saturday morning at the destroyed building where his wife once had a booth selling refinished furniture “about where that roof’s caved in” on the structure’s second floor.

“I don’t even know if she’ll be able to get to her stuff. We’re trying to salvage anything we can,” he said.

Rhodes said there was no power in the neighborhood where his family lives.

“Quite a few houses were hit by trees,” he said.

“Our daughter lives about two miles from us in town and we went to her house yesterday and we saw about 10 houses that had trees on top of them,” he said. “A lot of houses torn up.”

Rosana Baluss, 35, was living in a hotel with no power.

“That’s the biggest concern right now,” she said.

She was working to salvage property for vendors whose booths had also been in the building, an attempt to make a bit of money while her workplaces were closed.

“It’s really sad,” Baluss said. “I just want things to return to normal for everyone.”

The damage left in Helene’s wake has longtime resident Bill Parmelee considering the idea of relocating.

“I’d like to pack up and move,” he said when asked his thoughts on the destruction. “It looks like hell.”

Large tree limbs and branches littered Parmelee’s yard and the roof of his home was damaged. He said Helene’s winds “sounded like a freight train” as the hurricane tore through the area.

Parmelee, who’s lived in his home for 26 years, estimated that about 15 trees in his yard either fell or were damaged. To make matters worse, the hurricane struck after Parmelee and his wife had just finished rebuilding their back porch, which was destroyed last year during Idalia.

“The process starts all over again,” he said.

Helene’s destruction stretched beyond Lowndes County and resulted in 17 storm-related deaths, officials said at a news conference Saturday.

“From a statewide perspective, this storm spared no one,” Kemp said.