GEMA sending Georgians to Florida to assist in disaster recovery efforts

Hurricane Milton didn’t maul Georgia, however, the work for Georgians and the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA) is far from over.

“We’re very fortunate. Certainly, our hearts go out to our friends in Florida and what they’re dealing with today… seeing a lot of disaster and destruction there,” GEMA Director Chris Stallings told Channel 2′s Mark Winne . “We were gonna see some rain but it was more nuisance rain than heavy rain and then those winds weren’t strong enough that we had any issues with topping of trees.”

Requests from Florida for assistance from the state of Georgia go through GEMA.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks ]

Stallings said Florida has asked for one of the Georgia Army National Guard’s CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters.

The Georgia National Guard said it has already sent a UH-60 Medevac helicopter to Florida.

“We also did get an EMAC (Emergency Management Assistance Compact) request for law enforcement and so the Department of Public Safety is our state liaison there. We’ll begin to resource that out,” Stallings said. “And so a lot of time it’s made up of state troopers, maybe DNR rangers. You’ll also see sheriff’s deputies or local law enforcement, city officers, things of that nature that will help fulfill that resource request.”

Story continues

TRENDING NOW

LATEST LOCAL NEWS