Valdosta battered by Helene’s winds: ‘It’s like a war zone’
The devastation in Valdosta was extensive after the South Georgia city was battered with hurricane-force winds on Helene’s path across the state.
The storm toppled trees, destroyed buildings and left some trapped in their homes. By midday Friday, hours after Helene had passed, Gov. Brian Kemp said the situation in Valdosta and the surrounding area continued to be dangerous.
“We’re trying to get helicopters up and drones up now to fully assess damages. But we’ve heard stories of fire chiefs going out to try to assess and look around, and they just couldn’t even hardly get anywhere,” Kemp said.
He said the area in and around Valdosta seemed to be the hardest-hit of any area in the state.
Winds were so strong as the storm’s eye wall passed through the county that measuring equipment malfunctioned, The Valdosta Daily Times reported. Official speeds topped out at 99 mph, but almost certainly exceeded 100 mph.
Virtually all of the county around Valdosta was without power Friday, said Meghan Barwick, a Lowndes County spokeswoman. “We have tons of trees all over the county down, power lines are over the roads.”
One of the few places with electricity was the South Georgia Medical Center, which was itself operating on backup generators. Even the generators there briefly failed before being brought back online.
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Frank Franks said that by the time he started second guessing his decision to stay, it was too late to leave his home in Valdosta. He and his wife Dianne were getting ready for bed — “not that you can really sleep” — when a neighbor’s tree fell on their roof, caving in the bedroom ceiling.
“Now that I made it through it, I think I’m glad I stayed,” Franks said. “But I wouldn’t do it again.”
He was using a generator to keep their refrigerator and a fan going on Friday and said he was grateful his home didn’t suffer more damage. The Franks had spent the day checking in with friends and he said they fared better than many people in the city.
“It’s devastation,” he said. “There are (power) lines laying on the ground, the poles are cracked in half. It’s awful. It looks like a war-zone.”
Staff writers Taylor Croft, Henri Hollis and Meris Lutz contributed reporting.
About the Author
Sara Gregory covers transportation for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Previously, she covered local government in DeKalb County. A Charlotte native, she joined the AJC in 2023 after working at newspapers in South Carolina and Virginia.
