'We are working hard:' Officials say about Tropical Storm Debby efforts in Bryan County

Bryan County, the city of Richmond Hill and the city of Pembroke held a press conference Wednesday afternoon to discuss the impact and response efforts to Tropical Storm Debby.

Bryan County Commissioner Carter Infinger kicked off the presser by ensuring the public that local officials are on top of things.

"We are working hard," said Infinger. "You may not see us out there in the community but we are working behind the scenes a lot, some in the streets and some in the neighborhoods – we’ve been there. We are working as hard as we can to get things back to normal."

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Thomas Moore, deputy director for Emergency Management for Georgia Emergency Management Agency, said GEMA has been in the county since Aug. 4.

“We had people on the ground here when it hit,” said Moore. “The field coordinators are the people that do the bulk of the work. GEMA has been on the ground the whole time.”

According to Chuck Ray, director of field operations at GEMA, six teams will be on the ground assessing the damage and will report back to the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator who will then send a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp who will forward it on to President Joe Biden.

“We have been assessing damages to the storm ever since the water began to recede,” said Ray. “We were able to get enough numbers to our federal partners that we need their assistance. As soon as a decision is made from the presidential level on an individual assistance declaration, we will get the word out to the property owners and start that process.”

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Marcus Sack, city engineer for Richmond Hill and president and CEO of M.E. Sack Engineering, said pumping could not begin until some of the water levels decreased.

“We started collecting water levels early Saturday morning,” said Sack. “We have used that data to be able to predict where the water will recede first. We have used that data to make important decisions like where to deploy pumps. Pumping operations are still going on. Originally, we did not start pumping because there was too much water.”

Residents in Richmond Place have seen water levels decrease but flooding remains an issue in the White Oak neighborhood.

“They are going to start pumping water out of there but it is still going to be a few days,” said Infinger. “We are still fighting with the Canoochee River and Ogeechee River, all the water coming down. That water should start receding at any time, if not already. I believe it is starting to go down, last I heard, a little bit in some of those places.”

Richmond Hill Mayor Russ Carpenter thanked the volunteers who have worked tirelessly to help their neighbors.

“We live in a phenomenal community," said Carpenter. "We have had people show up with trucks, boats and sandbags. These are the kind of people that are in the community."

Latrice Williams is a general assignment reporter covering Bryan and Effingham County. She can be reached at lwilliams6@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: 'We are working hard:' Officials say about Tropical Storm Debby efforts in Bryan County