Community faces power outages and flooding from Tropical Storm Debby
Hurricane Debby, downgraded to a slow-moving tropical storm over land, brought high winds and heavy rain to Cook County and other parts of South Georgia beginning Monday morning, Aug. 5, 2024.
Locally, the storm caused widespread, extended power outages – from Cecil to Pine Valley, from Sparks to Kinard Bridge Road – and flooding in yards, streets, and roads. Wind gusts reported at up to 48 mph brought down trees and power lines and damaged some structures. A power pole was snapped in two at the bridge between Cook and Berrien Counties.
Two trees fell on this house in Sparks. Photo by Tammy Plymel.
Tammy Plymel said two trees were left lying on her house in Sparks. “Thank you for the first responders getting us out safe,” she said.
The wells and sewer lift stations were left without power in Sparks following Tropical Storm Debby. The City of Sparks Public Works Department urged citizens to not use water unless they had to, and to flush toilets as little as possible. However, by Monday evening, the Public Works Department reported that the needed equipment had arrived to restore power, so the city water and lift stations would be running again. Georgia Power notified city officials that power would be restored sometime Wednesday afternoon, hopefully.
There were no immediate reports of local injuries as the result of Debby. However, the hurricane left at least four people dead in Florida due to falling trees and traffic accidents. A 19-year-old male also died in our neighboring community of Moultrie after a large tree fell through a home and on top of him.
The storm caused closings of local government offices, the Cook County Courthouse, and several businesses, and the cancellations of Adel City Council and County Commission meetings. Cook County Schools and Community Christian Academy rescheduled their first days of school and Open Houses.
Meanwhile, utility workers for Colquitt EMC, Georgia Power, and the City of Adel were kept busy responding to outages.
County Emergency Management Agency Director Johnny West advised that the tropical storm warning remained in effect for Cook County until 10:30 p.m. Monday. He urged citizens to stay off the roads and give emergency crews time to mitigate safety issues as strong winds continued to blast the community. The local Emergency Operations Center became operational at 4 a.m. Monday to coordinate the response of emergency responders.
Cook County EMA urged citizens who have not done so already to sign up for Code Red, a weather warning service provided by Cook County.
A view of Lovett Circle as Debby was leaving the area. Photo by Amelia Barker.
“It is specific to your address you sign up with,” according to Cook County EMA. “It is like having a weather siren on your phone.You get to set the address and the type warnings you want to receive with this system. Please take advantage of this service offered by our county.”
Citizens can use a QR Code available on Cook County EMA’s Facebook page to sign up or text COOK to 99411 to take you to the link. You can also use the QR code for the app as well.
Code Red takes on an added importance as many weather forecasters are predicting an above average hurricane season this year.
Early Monday morning, Debby made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near Steinhatchee, Fla., with sustained winds of 80 mph.
Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency in Georgia and activated up to 2,000 Georgia National Guard troops to aid in the response. The National Hurricane Center was predicting potentially historic heavy rainfall across Southeast Georgia and South Carolina through Friday morning.
Debby caused more than 300,000 utility customers to lose power in Florida. Colquitt EMC President/CEO Danny Nichols reported more than 35,000 meters without power as of Monday afternoon. “We are doing what we can throughout our system to restore power, but that is difficult with the wind blowing as it has been,” Nichols said. “When the sustained winds get below 35 mph, we will be allowed to perform more consistent work. We are deeply concerned about any outage that is being experienced by our members. We are optimistic that once this storm leaves our area and we can begin work in earnest, we can then restore power quickly to our membership.”