WSAV Investigates: Pembroke reports $104,000 in Tropical Storm Debby damage

PEMBROKE, Ga. (WSAV) – It’s been over a month since Tropical Storm Debby left parts of Bryan County in ruin.

Several residents reached out to WSAV once the storm passed to share their concerns and questions relating to the city and county response. Meredith Gibson has chosen to run as a write-in candidate for commission chair because of the storm response.

The question on many people’s minds is did the county and cities follow guidelines set by the state when it comes to disaster response? News 3 filed open records requests to get that answer.

The City of Pembroke and Bryan County are the only two agencies that have so far responded.

Notably, we have yet to hear back from Richmond Hill.

First, here is how the state wants its communities to respond after a disaster is declared by the governor: A county Emergency Management Agency (EMA) office sets up an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) with representatives from its cities, board of education, power company, big businesses and more.

All of those representatives then communicate with the EMA director on needs through a statewide portal called Web EOC. This means everything from boats to bottled water.

The documents show that Pembroke and Bryan County did just that.

Timeline of communication:

• The storm hit on Monday, August 5.
• Overall communication with Pembroke and the county seemed to be consistent, over text and email
• Representatives from each municipality checked on one another and communicated needs and updates
• The city of Pembroke communicated with the county through County Administrator Ben Taylor, Bryan County Fire Division Chief Anthony Van Es, and Chairman Carter Infinger
• Pembroke reported it had a few roads closed due to flooding, so they issued a curfew for people who live there on that Monday
• On Sunday, August 4, Pembroke requested pumps from Bryan County
• EMA submitted that request through the Web EOC and the supplies were delivered at 3 a.m. on August 6.
• Chairman Infinger wrote to the City of Pembroke on August 11 that the “big problems are within the city”, meaning the city of Richmond Hill.
• Pembroke replied that they sent boats and people to help their neighbors
• On August 15, the City of Pembroke reported $104,215 worth of damage to the area

A meeting was held on the morning of September 4th to discuss unmet needs in the county.

Every municipality was asked to attend, along with area nonprofits.

WSAV is still waiting for our open records request to be filed by Richmond Hill and GEMA.

Bryan County’s regular commission meeting will be held Tuesday, September 10 at 5:30 p.m. in Pembroke, where we expect the commission to share more regarding their role in the storm response. WSAV will be there.