Flood Waters Still Plague South Georgia

It could be weeks for residents in three southeast Georgia counties to recover from flooding of the Satilla River--that's the word from county officials. Emergency officials in Pierce, Ware, and Brantley counties say nearly 50 families have been displaced, with their homes likely uninhabitable. Flood waters were finally receding yesterday, but damage remains in the region.

In extreme south Georgia, flood waters from the Withlacoochee River have begun to roll back in some areas of Lowndes County. The National Weather Service is forecasting the river may finally fall below flood stage sometime on Friday. Numerous road closures remain in the county and the Valdosta-area.

Fay still a threat to Georgia--update

Flooding and high winds are still conditions that could impact coastal Georgia over the next several hours into Friday.

State emergency officials are watching the movement of Tropical storm Fay closely. Ken Davis of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency says they’ve received new estimates on a storm track and possible rainfall.

"By midnight perhaps it might be enough inland and start impacting and providing rain to some of our southern tier of counties...and probably midnight Saturday or so, it might be over by Chattahoochee River. Possible amounts of maybe 4-8 inches of rain along the bottom tier of counties...3-6 maybe a little more inland and isolated areas. And there’s a remote or low possibility of isolated tornadoes as this thing moves inland".

Davis says emergency officials with several southeast Georgia counties were on a GEMA conference call this morning for the latest.

How the storm turns may affect school closures for Friday. Systems in Camden and McIntosh counties were closed today.

Tropical Storm Fay update

Officials in southeast Georgia are closely watching Tropical Storm Fay and its movement. As of early Thursday morning the storm was nearly stationary off Florida’s coast near Daytona Beach. A tropical storm warning does extend along the Georgia coast--in addition, there is a flood watch in place for much of the southeast Georgia area through late Friday. The main threat of Fay right now is heavy rainfall and torrential downpours with high wind gusts.

Stay with GPB radio for continuing updates on the storm and its movement. You can also get news updates from our website--gpb.org--and by oing to the Georgia News blog.

Wildfire fund aims to help private forestland in SE Ga

A new fundraising effort could speed up restoring land in southeast Georgia devastated by last year’s wildfires.

The Wildfire Relief Fund will raise money from private sources and distribute it to family farms and forest areas ravaged by the blazes of last spring and summer. The Fund has the backing of many state and local government leaders.

More than a half-million acres burned across 21 counties, most in southeast Georgia. Within that, over 31-thousand acres of private forestland were charred, with only a small percentage of federal money helping those affected.

Several partners are already onboard for the effort, including the Georgia Forestry Commission and Department of Natural Resources. Monte Simpson, spokesman for the Fund, says the goal is to raise 7-million dollars to nurse the land back to health:

"The sooner we get the money, the sooner we can put it to work...identifying these landowners and working with them to help re-establish their lands".

Relief fund officials hope to begin processing applications, and start paying-out assistance, in time for the fall planting season.

Wind gusts could affect SE Georgia fires

It's another tough day on the front-lines for firefighters in southeast Georgia, as high winds complicate efforts to battle wildfires--now burning into a third week.

Officials are calling today a "red flag" day--reflecting the combination of high winds and very dry conditions. The forecast had a wind advisory in effect for southeast Georgia, with gusts up to 25-30 miles-per-hour.

All of this is challenging the over 1-thousand combined firefighters on the ground trying to control at least four main wildfires. Nearly 110-thousand acres have now been charred by the various blazes.

The main fires are the two connected in Ware County, having burned 100-thousand acres alone. The one blaze today is reported to be 80-percent contained, with the other only 45-percent under control.

Officials are now watching three smaller fires burning inside the Okefenokee Swamp, which were sparked by recent lightning strikes.