Too Soon To Calculate Flood Damage In State

State emergency management officials say it will be next week at the earliest to determine how much damage was done by flooding in Georgia over the past two weeks. Officials with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency say more than 50 counties have been impacted by flooding--with south Georgia especially hard hit. As flood waters recede in Brantley County, federal officials there are evaluating close to 100 homes either damaged or destroyed by high water. In various other counties, officials are still being urged to boil water if their wells were flooded.

South Georgia Deals With Flooding

At least two dozen families have been evacuated, with 30 to 50 homes impacted by flood waters in the Valdosta-area. The Withlacoochee River is still the concern this morning, following multiple inches of heavy and soaking rains over the past 10 days in south Georgia. Forecasters say the river crested over the weekend, but still remains about five feet above flood stage. Buzz Weiss with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency says one concern of state emergency officials is protecting the water treatment plant in the Valdosta-area. However, city officials stress that drinking water is safe for residents. Lowndes County emergency officials say with numerous road and bridge closures, people should not travel unless absolutely necessary.

'Hanna' could affect Georgia

Even with the current focus on 'Gustav', forecasters have a wary eye on the Atlantic, where Tropical Storm Hanna is churning within 100 miles of the Bahamas.

This is a storm forecasters say Georgians need to follow closely. Mike Griesinger of the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City says the current projection--although several days out--puts ‘Hanna’ on a path for Georgia’s coast by perhaps Friday afternoon:

"That forecast kind of falls in the middle of them, but there’s about 10 or so models and they take it anywhere from Daytona to Charleston".

Griesinger says residents from Brunswick to Savannah should refresh their plans for hurricane preparations.

‘Hanna’ at last check was moving very slowly--only two miles-an-hour, with sustained winds near 50 mph.

Officials with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency have already activated their emergency planning. GEMA’s Kandice Eldon says they expect the state operations center to be in full-operation Tuesday.

"We’re talking staffing now...there are meetings right now with GEMA officials to talk about what steps to take next. But we do have people who are in our operations center now monitoring the storm and taking part in conference calls. Tomorrow, we’ll definitely see an influx of more agencies and representatives in our operations center".

Eldon urges coastal residents right now to reacquaint themselves with hurricane evacuation routes, and make sure they have fully-stocked disaster kits.

One dead in overnight storms

Authorities say one person is dead in central Georgia after severe storms cut a swath through the state, downing trees and damaging homes and businesses in multiple counties.

Lisa Janak with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency said other minor injuries have been reported after the early Sunday morning storms. Authorities have not yet identified the person who died in Dublin, which is just south of Macon.

Weather officials have not yet confirmed if any of the Georgia storms produced tornadoes.

Georgia Power officials say at least 80,000 residents are without electricity across the state, mostly concentrated in the metro Atlanta area and the Macon area.

The violent storm system that ripped through Georgia left at least 18 people dead in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri on Saturday.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of severe weather conditions statewide.

(The Associated Press)

Perdue order forms child recovery team

An executive order signed by Governor Sonny Perdue Tuesday will establish a Child Abduction Response Team, meant to better connect law enforcement agencies looking for missing or abducted children. This response team would coordinate across nine state agencies, including the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. The GBI will head the effort and provide extra training to all agencies involved. The Governor’s action follows an abduction tragedy from last month, where three children were found dead with their father in a wooded area near Fort Benning. Those killings came after the father had threatened to take and kill his children.

Congressman wants additional storm-damaged counties included in assistance request

A Georgia congressman wants Governor Sonny Perdue to request expedited federal assistance for counties in eastern Georgia damaged by this weekend's storms.

Only Atlanta and Fulton County made it to Perdue's request for expedited federal assistance.

But the storms wreaked havoc statewide.

And U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens) says Perdue should include 10 counties in the 10th congressional district in that request.

But officials with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency say they typically place the hardest hit area in the state on such a list.

They say it makes getting a disaster declaration for both Atlanta/Fulton County and other counties ravaged by the storm faster and easier, rather than assessing multiple counties at once.

"Those that are eligible can be added on in less complicated fashion than getting the initial one," says Ken Davis, a spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. "Getting the initial declaration is the key."

State officials are still awaiting word on the status of the request.

Officials say they do not yet have a dollar amount on how much damage the storms caused statewide.

Statewide tornado drill today

Georgia emergency management officials will run a statewide tornado drill today. It was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was postponed because of bad weather in the state--and the threat of tornadoes. GEMA says the drill this morning should be treated as if it is an actual severe weather emergency. Schools are among the groups participating. This week in Georgia has been Severe Weather Awareness Week.

State schools take on bomb threats

Officials in Augusta say their schools are getting far too many bomb threats.

They're joining school boards across the state in an effort to punish the parents of students who make those threats.

Officials say 70 bomb threats came in to schools alone in Richmond County last year.

The public safety response to each threat typically costs the county about $4000 to $8000.

The Georgia School Boards Association says bomb threats are a problem across the state.

Now, they want the legislature to pass a law holding parents accountable for a student's terroristic threats, school violence and theft.

"When we're taking and diverting resources from safety personnel to respond to a false alarm, that means someone else is not getting service and we are passing on a burden of cost to taxpayers that shouldn't be there, because of something that was not a real issue to them," says Dana Bedden, the Richmond County school superintendent.

The threats also disrupt classes, since principals often evacuate the students.

Suspects are often students, according to officials with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

In Richmond County, officials say some of the suspects are middle schoolers.

Quiet hurricane season ends

Georgia and the U.S. coast went nearly untouched by hurricanes in this year’s Atlantic season, which ends today. But some fear the inactivity could spur complacency among Georgians for future hurricane preparedness.

14 named storms were recorded for the period between June and November. Government forecasters had predicted a range of 13-17. Six were hurricanes, but all struck elsewhere on the map, away from the U.S.

It has been a couple of years since the relentless pounding of storms the U.S. took in 2004 and ’05, including Hurricane Katrina. But with the recent quiet seasons, Ken Davis of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency says there could be concern for public apathy in preparedness.

"Particularly when nothing happens so to speak in any given hurricane season, but I think we’re so close on the heels of some very, super active seasons that I don’t think complacency has crept in just yet".

Davis says even with a quiet season in the Atlantic, there’s emergency planning going year-round. Next week GEMA has a hurricane planning session scheduled for Jesup.

Feds accredit state's emergency management

Georgia’s Emergency Management Agency is now accredited by the federal government. It means the state’s system of preparedness and response meets stringent national standards. Only 16 states have the accreditation.