Columbus dodges severe effects from Hurricane Helene. Here’s where roads closed, trees fell

On a scale of 1-10, Columbus emergency management Director Chance Corbett was bracing for Hurricane Helene to hit the area as an 8-10 storm when Thursday night became Friday morning.

City officials prepared to respond to the predicted potential of catastrophic damage from Hurricane Helene. After all, it had strengthened to a Category 4 storm as it approached the Big Bend in Florida, and weather forecasters estimated Columbus would be in its path.

But around 6 a.m., when the storm had departed the local area after taking a more easterly direction through Georgia, Corbett breathed a sigh of relief. He said the effects of Hurricane Helene on Columbus amounted to a 1 on that scale of 1-10.

“We’ve had worse severe thunderstorms,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer.

Corbett said he received no reports of injuries or significant damage from the storm overnight in Columbus.

Parts of three city roads were closed overnight, Corbett said:

• Second Avenue ramp at JR Allen Parkway due to mud
• Double Churches Road due to a tree across the road
• River Road at Old River Road due to flooding.

Trees fell along four more roads, but closures weren’t required, Corbett said: Lindsay Drive, Chesley Drive, Berkley Avenue and College Drive.

As of 7 a.m., the Georgia Power outage map showed 320 customers out of 89,481 without power from 15 outages. But in the far northeast part of Muscogee County, around Williams Road, 2,479 out of 2,705 Diverse Power customers were without power.

Nonetheless, Corbett was grateful for the relatively benign circumstances.

“We were very nervous that Columbus was going to be inundated with flooding, inundated with trees down, road closures, power outages,” he said. “We do have some of that, but, honestly, it was a breath of fresh air that we avoided any major damage.

“People can get up and go to work this morning. It’s amazing. We thought we were going to be out clearing streets most of the day, and we’ve avoided that. It’s a very big relief for us.”

Midday update

By midday, Corbett texted the following update to the Ledger-Enquirer:

• City tree fell in roadway at intersection of Steam Mill Road and Mt. Pleasant Drive.
• Private tree and limb from city tree fell in roadway at 3100 block of East Lindsay Drive.
• Private tree fell in roadway at intersection of Foyer Avenue and Evergreen Street.
• City tree fell on power lines and in road at 1600 block of Berkley Avenue.
• Private tree fell onto edge of road at 1600 block of Forestside Drive.
• Private tree fell onto roadway at 3300 block of Chestley Drive.

Cooper Creek Park flooding and damage

Cooper Creek Park is closed due to flooding, Corbett said.

Two fallen power poles were seen in the park as well.

Frustrated but grateful

Alta Vista Drive resident LaTasha Cloud was relieved Friday morning that Hurricane Helene didn’t cause more grief in Columbus.

Cloud expressed frustration that her power still hadn’t been restored when the Ledger-Enquirer interview her around 9:45 a.m. Friday after it went out around 6:30 p.m. Thursday, but she still was grateful the situation wasn’t worse.

The length of the power outage caused the food she had in the refrigerator to spoil, Cloud said. Her children, including one recovering from surgery, spent the night at their grandmother’s home to be safer and more comfortable. And the stretch of Forrest Road from Sheffield Drive to Martha’s Loop still was blocked off while a crew worked to restore the power after a pine tree fell and a power pole was snapped in half.

But, after she noted her friends in South Carolina lost their house when the roof caved in from the hurricane, Cloud had a brighter perspective.

“Beyond grateful,” she said. “I won’t complain. I just want my power back on.”