Albany area leaders make plea for East Albany storm cleanup assistance

Jan. 13--ALBANY -- As thousands of Albany area residents continue to recover from devastating storms that ripped through the community 10 days ago, local leaders made a plea to citizens Thursday, asking that people come together to help one and another through this trying time, while also providing an update of where things stand at this point.

Albany City Commissioner Jon Howard, who organized Thursday's news conference at the Albany Dougherty Government Center, began the meeting by thanking elected officials, city and county staff and area residents for the cleanup work that's happened thus far, while also setting the record straight about reports indicating certain areas of the city have been neglected or incurred more damage than others.

"I rode from the county line over to Leary and it is devastating; that's an understatement," said the Ward I commissioner. "And for those that may say that service is not being rendered in East Albany as it should, or that East Albany took the brunt of the damage, you go up by Phoebe medical facility and you go up 3rd Avenue. You would think that an F-16 dropped a bomb the way trees were cut."

Despite the widespread damage and the considerable efforts of volunteers to lend assistance throughout the community, Howard said that there were many residents throughout Albany and Dougherty County who were still without power and still needed help cleaning up their property.

To that end, Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard, who followed Howard at the meeting, echoed his statements and issued a call to action to area residents and other communities to please do what they could to help city and county residents.

"I am grateful to all," Hubbard said. "I'm also grateful just for having neighbors helping neighbors. I have seen a lot of that in the last week. As Commissioner Howard said, in my neighborhood, Cromartie Beach we had men walking down the street with their chainsaws trying to help those of us who are elderly who had trees in our yards.

"I've seen it all and I can tell you that it makes my heart proud, even though I'm hurting. Every time I see all the damage that is going on, I hurt. But I'm proud that this neighborhood and this city and this county has come together to make sure that our people are taken good care of.

"We are at this time still in need and we are asking for volunteers all over the city, not just in East Albany. Everywhere there is a need."

Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas, who attended the meeting with fellow commissioners John Hayes and Clinton Johnson, confirmed what Hubbard said, while also trying to drive home the extent of the storm damage.

Cohilas began by sharing his experiences in the immediate aftermath of the storm, which he categorized as a tornado. Cohilas said he had to get a county employee to drive "somewhere near" his neighborhood so he could get downtown to declare a local state of emergency.

"What I realized during that short -- it was actually about a 45-minute drive because we had to drive off road in some places -- what struck me was that I was learning, during that process, how extensive the damage was," Cohilas said. "The damage to this community, across from the west to the east, in the unincorporated and the incorporated areas, the city and the county, is immense. It is massive. I shared that story about how I traveled downtown because it highlights something. We are just now really grasping how huge this is."

The commission chairman went on to say that the community needed to continue asking for support from within the community, from surrounding communities and from state and federal agencies in order to make a full recovery.

"We have people that are hurt, we need to continue to ask for help," he said. "We need to continue through this process. The governor's office has been very responsive. We have state resources here that are helping immensely but that's not enough.

"When Mayor Hubbard and I rode around with the heads of GEMA ... they were blown away. Commissioner Howard said earlier that it looked like a bomb went off; those were their words. These are gentlemen who have seen the worst of the worst. Within 20 minutes, they were calling and asking for FEMA to be involved.

"We are hurt right now. But we are strong. We need help. We appreciate the help we've been given but we need more."

Although help is still needed throughout the community Dougherty County EMA Director Ron Rowe and Albany Assistant City Manager Phil Roberson did share some bright spots, saying that despite having a long road of recovery ahead, things were progressing well.

Rowe said shelter usage is down throughout the city, meaning that more and more people have been able to return to their homes.

"We know that good things are happening," Rowe said. "It's going to take a while. I can see this community coming together and we need to continue to come together to help that."

Roberson explained that during the storm, eight of the city's 11 substations had been knocked out, but that all were now operational. Additionally, he reported that the "backbone of the electrical grid is up."

"All the lines going to the station feeder lines are up and the drops to the houses, for the most part, are up," he said. "Twenty-five of our 52 circuits were down, so that shows the magnitude of it. Now, all the circuits are up."

Roberson also shared that power had been restored to a large number of residents and businesses thanks to the work of outside utility workers who came to Albany to help.

"As you all know, we are an Electric Cities of Georgia member, there are over 50 cities, and we have mutual aid agreements with over 20 of those cities," Roberson said. "By the time Thursday rolled around and Friday, we had over 20 cities here. About 125-130 linemen and all their equipment and trucks and that kind of thing. By Saturday afternoon, we had almost 300 and by that evening, we had 350 or 60 linemen and all their equipment."

Although he said he was thrilled to have that support, he was even more pleased by the fact that the city of Albany made those visitors feel welcome and appreciated. Roberson said some 400 plus lineman gathered every morning for safety meetings before going out in the streets, and that those linemen were all impressed with the residents of Albany and Dougherty County.

"To a person, everybody in those rooms told us that they have never been to a community that supported them and showed them more support and been more gracious than the people of Albany, Georgia," he said. "The one thing you can be proud of is that people left here thinking a lot different about Albany than when they came here and I can tell you that's infectious.

The assistant city manager also praised the community for coming together and said that he believes Albany and Dougherty County will be able to overcome the hardships of the storm by working together.

"It's a shame that it takes a disaster for the good of Albany and the good people of Albany Georgia to come together, forget all their differences and the issues that they have and come together and be as one," he said. "And we'll survive this, just like we did in (the flood of) '94."

In an effort to continue bringing people together to help, Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful Executive Director Judy Bowles announced that at Howard's behest the organization would be hosting a community cleanup event in Cast Albany on Saturday. Volunteers are being asked to arrive at 1719 Owens Ave. at 10 a.m. ready to clear debris.

"We encourage all citizens who can help us to bring chainsaws, rakes, wheelbarrows -- whatever you have that you can help us with," said Bowles. "We want to go into those neighborhoods that you've already heard so much about that have a lot of elderly people.

"And we have a lot of homes that have no insurance over there and they need us. And I hope that we will rally and come to their aid and make this a better a place. I know we will rally. I'm proud of this community. I love Albany, Georgia."

Anyone coming to help with the East Albany cleanup will be asked to sign a waiver before he or she can participate.

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