AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Cathy Paradise was walking her dog along McDowell Street, just one of the areas hit hard by Hurricane Helene.“It was pretty bad. I personally didn’t have a lot of damage at my house, but the area was devastated, it lost a lot,” she said.While the debris piles are gone from the city, other damage remains. Augusta’s infrastructure also was hurt by Helene.“When trees fall, they pull up sidewalks. Even when the trees are picked up, sidewalks are broken. You have to take all of that into account as well,” said Commissioner Brandon Garrett.Commissioners are now taking this damage into account and are expected on Tuesday to approve a nearly $1.3 million-dollar bid to address damage to streets, curbs gutters and other infrastructure across the city caused by Helene.Laurel Lane in the hard-hit area near Lake Olmstead, the single biggest project at just over $99,000.“Hurricane Helene devastated our community, so you can’t put a price tag on getting our city back up to speed so to speak. We’re still recovering and we should be patient in that,” said Commissioner Jordan Johnson.The money for the infrastructure work is 75 percent reimbursable.
The pavement problem repairs are as not as noticeable as having large trees on the right-of-ways, but they’re now next on the city’s hurricane to do list.
“As long as they can improve the area, that’s good. That’s a plus,” said Paradise…