‘It’s been hard:’ Southeast Georgia families are still dealing with power outages after Helene

WAYCROSS, Ga. — Hundreds of thousands are without power in Georgia after Helene ripped through the state.

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And families in some of our local counties may have to wait several days before power is restored.

“We don’t have any power,” said Roberto Caballero, who lives in Alma.

“We were prepared for whatever and then the power was out all through the city,” said Ricky Brown, who lives in Waycross.

For many, it’s been difficult to get food and gas.

“We definitely didn’t think it was going to be this bad,” said Caballero. “It’s been hard.”

“It’s just been chaotic with the recovery,” said Thomas Undercuffler, who lives in Waycross.

In Folkston, there are several spots where roads are blocked off because of downed power lines. Georgia Power told Action News Jax there are 14,000 linemen across the state working to restore power.

“I know it is a huge imposition to not have power and we are restoring it as safely as possible and as quickly as possible,” said Matthew Kent, the Georgia Power spokesperson.

Georgia Power announced that it had restored power to approximately 600,000 customers on Sunday morning, but around 430,000 customers are still without power.

READ: ‘Sick to my stomach:’ Waycross residents dealing with Helene damage, left without power

According to their outage map, you could get power back by the earliest Sep. 30th and the latest Oct.5th.

“The times on the website are to restore power to 95% of the area, so the goal of course is much sooner than that,” said Kent.

For some families, they’ve been able to get a little relief with the help of a generator.

“Thank god I got a generator,” said Undercuffler.

“A generator is a man’s best friend and everybody’s friend,” said Brown. “If you get one of those you have a little hope.”

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