AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Clint Bryant and his wife Trish have not been home since Helene, they’ve been renting, because tree came crashing down on them just after they got out of bed.
“We go, oh my God, were we not lucky that we were out because the tree fell on our bed. It went through the roof and fell on our bed,” said Trish Bryant.“We would have been dead, and that’s why I think that gives you a whole different perspective of life. Again, just knowing what could have happened, but didn’t happen,” said Clint Bryant.What happened was the wide spread toppling of trees causing incredible damage.The debris was five times the volume of the 2014 ice storm.“The type of volume that was coming out, these big large trees. The ice storm was a lot of branches, smaller trees that came down, but this was huge trees about as big as your kitchen table,” said Augusta Debris Manager Steve Cassell.Helene threw the kitchen sink at Augusta.Former commissioners Sean Frantom’s old district was maybe the hardest hit.“We were trying to clear areas where emergency response vehicles could get around and get through. I mean, they were traveling in people’s yards and things to get around. It was very difficult because there was no line of communication other than Facebook and cell phones,” said Frantom.Mayor Garnett Johnson remembers on phone call he got on Sunday. Down on the canal, the city water system was failing.“We had of course had to notify our health care partners that they may potentially have to evacuate their hospitals. That was our oh no moment and how we survived that, I keep repeating this, it was through the grace of God,” Johnson said. On the canal, three miles of trail remain closed. It’s just part of the $100 million-dollar cost Augusta is facing cleaning up after Helene.“Surprised how well it did work out. If you look back in early October, it was pretty bad, but I think we got it going,” said Frantom. Frantom says going forward, the city should have a full time EMA director just in case.
“You have to plan for it a little bit better, but hopefully we’ll never have a storm of that magnitude again in Augusta, but it’s something that definitely needs go to the forefront,” said Frantom…