Morning, y’all. Helene arrived overnight and continues dumping rain on metro Atlanta, currently as a tropical storm.
The threat isn’t over. Flooding will worsen, winds will strengthen, power outages are rapidly approaching 1 million customers and will continue to mount. But the storm should be gone within a few hours.
- Stay glued to AJC.com for live updates and a storm tracker, plus the latest on school and event cancellations and the airport situation.
- And know that the AJC is delaying print delivery today, with papers arriving tomorrow. But we’re providing free access to the ePaper and all online storm coverage.
Read on for more on what’s happening — plus guidance on what to do in the aftermath.
***
HELENE, HIGH WATER
Helene made Florida landfall around 11:20 p.m. as a Category 4 hurricane, leaving catastrophe in her wake.
- By the time Helene’s eye roared into South Georgia as a Category 2 hurricane about two hours later, two Wheeler County residents died in a likely tornado.
- Then the storm hit Valdosta directly, knocking out power to most of the city.
- And as Helene veered to the east just south of Macon, a falling tree reportedly killed a third person in Hazlehurst.
Downgraded to a tropical storm around 5 a.m., Helene now appears headed north on a path roughly between Eatonton and Athens.
In metro Atlanta, winds may still whip up to 70 miles per hour. Trees are still falling.
- Flooding already forced boat crews to rescue folks from a Buckhead apartment complex, filled portions of I-285 and triggered an evacuation for folks along Nancy Creek in Sandy Springs.
- Power outage numbers are increasing almost by the second.
Local forecasters expect the rain to cease by roughly 9 a.m.
At least until then, stay inside and stay safe.
***
WHAT TO DO NEXT
Tree down? Make sure you’re safe, take photos if you can and call your insurance company. Then call your utilities to make sure gas and electric service are disconnected.
Power out? Don’t panic. If you’re a Georgia Power customer, report it by calling 1-888-891-0938 or visiting this website. You can also check out their outage map.
- Similar information for other EMCs in Georgia is listed here.
Got a generator? If you planned ahead and purchased a portable gas generator, DO NOT operate it inside. Even in the garage. The carbon monoxide can kill you.
- The Consumer Protection Safety Commission recommends setting it up at least 20 feet from your house.
Food question? It’s hard to know what to keep or throw away after a power outage. We’ve got the basics.
Need somewhere to go? The Georgia Department of Emergency Management opened several shelters for anyone in need. Most are in South Georgia, but one is at Cousins Middle School in Covington (8187 Carlton Trail NW).
Some counties are opening shelters, too.
- Cobb County: MUST Ministries’ Hope House, 1297 Bells Ferry Road, Marietta.
- DeKalb County: Frontline Response (2585 Gresham Road), Center for Pan Asian Community Services (3510 Shallowford Road), New Life Community Alliance (3592 Flat Shoals Road) and First United Methodist Church of Tucker (4315 Church St.).
Check with your local government to see if they have facilities available, too.
And if you’re in Atlanta proper: You can report clogged or block storm drains here. Other non-emergencies can be reported to Atlanta 311 by dialing 311 or 404-546-0311.
***
THE SPORTS WEEKEND
High schools across the state already rescheduled dozens of Friday night football games. Keep up with them all with our running list.
Things are fluid, but here’s how the rest of the sports weekend looks as of this moment:
- The Braves’ pre-Mets showdown with the Royals will begin tonight at Truist Park.
- Saturday night’s epic UGA-Alabama football matchup in Tuscaloosa is unlikely to be affected. And the Georgia State-Georgia Southern game is set for 3:30 p.m. in Atlanta.
- Atlanta United’s most important match of the season is Saturday night in Philadelphia.
- Sunday’s Falcons-Saints game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium should be a go as well.
Check out what the AJC’s Michael Cunningham foresees for all the weekend action!
***
ANOTHER SUPER BOWL?
Also of note on the sports front: Reports suggest Mercedes-Benz Stadium may just host the Super Bowl in 2028. Atlanta last hosted the NFL’s big game in 2019.
***
BABIES ON BOARD
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Egleston plans to move all 300 of its patients to the new Arthur M. Blank Hospital (near North Druid Hills Road and I-85) on Sunday morning.
- That’s 65 ambulances operating on a loop to transport sick kids one-by-one.
- Starting at 7 a.m., avoid the Decatur/Brookhaven area between Clifton, Briarcliff and Clairmont roads as much as possible.
***
MORE TO EXPLORE
» Hurricane threatens Jimmy Carter’s hometown just before big celebration
» Banned book clubs in metro Atlanta take on controversial books
» Georgia launches absentee ballot tracking and notification service
» Another Trump campaign rally, another crowd conspiracy theory
» Free COVID tests are back. Here’s how to order
***
PHOTO OF THE DAY
AJC photographer Ben Gray captured Thursday’s calm before the storm on the 17th Street bridge in Midtown Atlanta.
***
ONE MORE THING
Your weekend forecast: high temperatures in the mid- to upper 70s. And only a minimal chance of rain.
***
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at tyler.estep@ajc.com.
Until next time.
About the Author
Tyler Estep hosts the AJC Win Column, Atlanta's new weekly destination for all things sports. He also shepherds the Sports Daily and Braves Report newsletters to your inbox.
