PRESS RELEASE

WHITE COUNTY, Ga. — White County and officials with the City of Cleveland and Helen were busy with storm related activities for most of the day.  Several calls for trees down, power outages and flooding were reported countywide.  Fire, Law Enforcement, Public Works, Animal Control and EMA units responded to assist in road clearing, damage assessments and flooding issues as TS Fred past over the area through the morning and early afternoon hours.

A flood watch continue through Wednesday morning for the area.

No area of White County was spared from the effects of the storm.  “Our teams worked together to manage the incident and respond to the service needs of our constituents.” Said David Murphy, Director of Emergency Management, “They worked together like a well-oiled machine from the 911 Center operators to the responders in the field.”

“I’m grateful for the dedication of all our personnel and volunteers.”

Even though White County was never placed under a Tornado Warning, the Emergency Operations Center requested Mt. Yonah Elementary School to go under emergency operations due to the warning that was issued in Banks and Habersham County.  The storm had changed to a NW movement on radar and the operations center felt it necessary to proactively move kids to safety for a period of time.

Several power outages continue through the county at press time, Habersham EMC at 127 meters and Georgia Power at 1287 customers mainly in and around the Helen area.

Below is a summary of incidents from the 911 Center records —

The following locations had confirmed trees down:

Virgil Hunt / Tesnatee Gap Valley Rd
Asbury Mill Rd / Hwy 129 N
6363 Hwy 75 Alt
Town Creek / Dozer Rd
Robinson Rd / Paradise Valley Rd
3085 Hwy 255 N
1699 Richard Russell Scenic Hwy
Hwy 356 / Skylake
1778 Joe Black Rd
Hwy 75 Alt / Scorpion Hollow
747 Duncan Bridge Rd
Hwy 356 / N Main Street
Helen Hwy / Windy Acres
Multiple trees down on Hwy 356

Power Lines down:

3066 New Bridge Rd
182 Post Rd (with tree)
Kellum Valley / Post Rd (with tree)
235 Yonah Valley Rd

Flooding:

896 Campbell Street
Thomas Rd / Hwy 115 W
286 S Main Street (area of Glenda’s)
Quillian Street
Cooley Woods / Mountain Meadows
Ricky West Rd / Mossy Acres
Mauldin Rd / Asbestos Rd
Bean Creek at Gold Valley Rd
327 Asbestos Rd
Riverside Park – Helen
Edelweiss Strasse at Brucken Strasse (bridge and roadway)
500 block of Chastain Rd

Vehicle Accidents:

MVA w/ Entrapment 5852 Hwy 254

Road Closures:

Bridge on Edelweiss Strasse
Hwy 356  at Hwy 75 due to Tree taking extended clearance time.

Chattahoochee River overflowed the riverbank beside Troll Tavern at 1157 hrs.