Georgia’s death toll increases from Hurricane Helene. Power outages still high.

At least 15 people have been confirmed dead in Georgia as a result of Hurricane Helene, according to multiple media reports .

The state had already started cleanup efforts Friday, but those increased Saturday. More than 700,000 people were still without power across the state Saturday evening, according to poweroutage.us , a service that tracks outages nationwide. The number of outages had been over 1 million Friday. Georgia Power, the state’s largest power provider, gave repeated updates on progress Friday and Saturday.

“The company continues to utilize additional resources from outside of its system and currently has 14,000+ personnel engaged in response, including support from Alabama Power, Mississippi Power and dozens of other companies,” the company said in a news release. “The response force currently engaged is larger than the company’s response to other major hurricanes including Michael, Irma and Zeta.”

Gov. Brian Kemp said on social media Saturday that he surveyed damage in Lowndes County , one of the hardest hit areas in the storm. Lowndes still had more than 30,000 customers without power Saturday evening, amount to about 97% of customers in the county.

“We’re deploying every available resource to affected areas across this state, and we thank you for your patience as we work to recover,” he said in a social media post.

As roads in especially hard-hit areas started reopening Saturday, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency urged people to only buy essential items when they started getting back out.

“If you do not need essential items like food, gas, or supplies, please refrain from buying them in bulk,” the agency said in a Facebook post. “There is NO shortage, so let’s avoid creating one by overstocking unnecessarily. Your consideration ensures that everyone has access to what they need. Let’s work together and support our communities during this recovery.”