Screven County braces for impacts from Helene, just weeks after suffering heavy damage from Debby

SYLVANIA, Ga. (WJBF) – Counties across the CSRA are preparing for impacts from Hurricane Helene.

But just a few weeks ago, Screven County saw close to 15 inches of rain from Debby.

Now they’re getting ready for Helene—a storm that EMA officials say could be an even bigger problem.

“The way it’s looking, this storm is bigger, it’s wider, and more of an impact with the intensity that it’s going to bring,” said EMA Director Harvey Cryder.

Cryder and other county leaders met with the National Weather Service on a zoom call Wednesday at noon to monitor Helene.

This comes after Sylvania saw washed out roads and heavy winds from Debby, while the town of Newington got 12 inches of rain–leaving homes in the area surrounded by water.

“We still have some roads washed out that we haven’t had a chance to get to, and we’ve basically done some emergency patching on some stuff so we can get as many roads passable as possible,” said Cryder. “That’s going to be an ongoing process, and hopefully we won’t get too much damage from the storms coming now to impact the stuff we have on the emergency patch.”

The Georgia Department of Labor has announced Screven County as one of 8 across the state approved for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA).

Cryder says they’re telling homeowners once again to be cautious and stay inside—but county leaders are also staying on their toes.

“We just have to stay vigilant, and keep all our things in order. Good communication between all of our agencies, the school board, things like that–that way we hopefully don’t have any surprises. Just staying on board with everybody, and keeping everything up to par,” Cryder said.

Our VIPIR-6 Alert Team is expecting the county to see winds up to 45 miles per hour from Helene, along with a slight risk of tornadoes.

They also anticipate the county getting 2-4 inches of rain, but details are subject to change.

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