HUD officials hear from Albany, Dougherty officials on January storm impact

Sept. 01--ALBANY -- Officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development office in Atlanta came to see with their own eyes the scars left behind by two severe weather events that hit the Albany area in January.

HUD officials were in Albany to hear from local leaders, including Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard, Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas, Albany Community and Economic Development Director Shelena Hawkins, Dougherty Emergency Management Agency Director and Albany Fire Chief Ron Rowe, and Albany Managing Director of Engineering and Planning Bruce Maples to get an overall overview of the impact.

The presentation included a video offering HUD representatives images of what the immediate aftermath looked like, and a tour of storm-damaged areas that included some portions of Albany and Dougherty County where blue tarps remain on roofs and homes are still uninhabitable.

"We have moved past the stage of drama, and we're in the stage of 'What do we do now?" Hubbard said.

The Jan. 2 storm hit at 10:30 p.m., bringing straight-line winds that topped out at 85 mph and knocked out power to thousands in Albany. The winds damaged homes, businesses and cars in the northern part of the city, where fallen trees made many roads impassable.

The storm eventually produced a tornado that touched down on the Dougherty/Worth county line, east of the Albany city limits, and moved through Worth.

The Jan. 22 event was an EF3 tornado that touched down south of Albany, went through the southeastern portion of Dougherty County and continued to travel northeast for a total of 70 miles before it lifted. Entire mobile home parks were completely destroyed, five fatalities were reported and Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany suffered more than $100 million in damage after it sustained a direct hit.

"We want to highlight the problems and show you where we are at," Cohilas said at the beginning of the meeting.

Hawkins put into perspective the housing situation in the city and county. She noted that the city has 33,436 housing units, 58.3 percent of which are rental properties. The median income is $29,676, and 33.8 percent of individuals are living below the poverty level.

In the county, she said, there are 36,508 housing units, 51.8 percent of which are rental properties. The median income is $32,084, and 30.7 percent of individuals are living below the poverty level.

Rowe, noting that 70 percent of the area's population was affected by the storms and 500,000 cubic yards of debris were removed from the Jan. 2 storm alone, offered his opinion on how bad the storms were in terms of tornadic activity.

"For our generation, this was the worst (tornado) event that has ever happened in Albany and Dougherty County," he said.

The EMA director added that 200 mobile homes were destroyed, 1,000 structures are uninhabitable and 4,000 structures were impacted in some manner. One thousand acres of quail hunting land were destroyed, as were several pecan orchards.

Rowe also said the backup 911 and emergency response centers in Dougherty were seriously impacted, noting that both have Federal Emergency Management Agency safe rooms.

"Not that we want to test that, but it worked well," he said.

First responders were overwhelmed with 3,400 calls in the immediate aftermath of the first storm. Agencies, including the Department of Natural Resources, Georgia State Patrol and nearby fire departments, were among those assisting in a four-day search and rescue effort as well as other emergency activities following the second storm.

Officials noted that many of those who were occupying homes that have been severely damaged have had to rent places elsewhere. In the meantime, contractors within a 100-mile radius have been soaked up -- much to the frustration of impacted homeowners.

Maples said that Hurricane Matthew, which impacted the United States a few months before the January storms, also contributed to the contractors becoming overwhelmed.

"We had many structures impacted, and there is a finite number of (resources)," he said. "(Several residents') rental insurance is about to expire, and they are no closer to getting back into their homes."

Maples also added that 400 root balls remain on the ground in Albany, and that crews from throughout Georgia and Florida were in the city to hasten power restoration following the first event.

After the second event, he said, 14 square miles of power service were out for Albany Utilities customers.

Rufus Washington, the community planning and development director for the Atlanta HUD regional office, said he valued the opportunity to see the damage with his own eyes, and that circumstances resulting from Hurricane Harvey would not weaken the resolve to help Southwest Georgia recover.

"I can tell you, seeing it with your own eyes ... there is a story that only your eyes can appreciate because (then) it goes down to your heart," he said. "I assure everyone here (despite Harvey), we don't put one (disaster) in front of another. What we try to do is to focus on every single one.

"Recovery takes years. We wish it could take a couple of months ... but experience tells us it is not going to be that way."

Washington said that HUD acts as a partner in helping reverse negative effects on streets, parks, buildings, housing and economic climates. Specific to the Southwest Georgia petition, he said a process was put into place to add more strength to the request -- and that the legal hurdles for this effort have been passed through.

"Within the next week, we are hoping to hear something more about that," he said.

The HUD official also asked for a copy of the video footage he saw Thursday to show to federal officials and suggested there be information-sharing sessions taking place across the country to ease long-term suffering from similar incidents.

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