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Augusta, GA

Harris heads to a hard-hit Augusta reeling from Helene water and power outages

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Harris heads to a hard-hit Augusta reeling from Helene water and power outages


This story was updated on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 1:54 p.m.

In Augusta, Georgia, a line wrapped around a massive shopping center, past the shuttered Waffle House and at least a half mile down the road to get water Tuesday.

At 11 a.m. it still hadn’t moved. Kristie Nelson arrived with her daughter three hours earlier. It was a muggy morning for October but they had their windows down and the car turned off because gas is a precious commodity too.

“It’s been rough,” said Nelson, who still hasn’t gotten a firm date from the power company for her electricity to be restored. “I’m just dying for a hot shower.”

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The city — along with Valdosta — was one of the hardest-hit in Georgia by Hurricane Helene on Friday. Vice President Kamala Harris will arrive there Wednesday afternoon to survey the damage, meet with local officials and provide updates on federal actions being taken to support recovery efforts.

President Joe Biden will visit Georgia and Florida on Thursday to tour impacted areas and meet with affected communities. Former President Donald Trump was in Valdosta on Monday.

Augusta and Richmond County have five centers for water set up for its more than 200,000 people. The city hasn’t provided specifics on the durations of outages for both water and power.

Members of the Civil Air Patrol load water for Hurricane Helene relief into a pickup truck at a water station in Augusta, Ga., on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Local resident Sherry Brown was converting power from the alternator of her car to keep her refrigerator running and taking “bird baths” with water she collected in coolers. In another part of the city, people waited in line for more than three hours to try to get water from one of five water centers.

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All around the city, trees are snapped in half and power poles are leaning. Traffic lights are out — and some are just gone from the winds that hit in the dark early Friday morning from Hurricane Helene.

“It’s miserable here,” said David Reese who was probably looking at spending his entire day in a line for water, then for gas. “But I’m still feeling blessed. I’ve heard it’s a lot worse other places.”

Some 350,000 people are still without power in Georgia as of Wednesday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us. The storm killed at least 166 people across six states, including 25 in Georgia.

President Joe Biden, who is set to survey the devastation in North and South Carolina Wednesday, estimated the recovery could cost billions.

“We have to jump start this recovery process,” he said Tuesday. “People are scared to death. This is urgent.”

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Vice President Harris will make remarks about the recovery efforts from Augusta at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

WABE’s Patrick Saunders contributed to this report.



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Augusta, GA

Mother’s Day concert brings gospel music to Augusta

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Mother’s Day concert brings gospel music to Augusta


AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Several artists came together for a Mother’s Day concert Bethel Community Church Family Life Center.

Lucresha Thomas with Psalm 100 Entertainment said the event honors mothers.

“I think that is very important to honor the mothers because there’s some people that don’t have mothers due, the mothers passing away and mothers not being local,” Thomas said. “So this helps bring them together and they’re able to fellowship with other mothers and just be positive, bringing some gospel to the community where they can fellowship together, be blessed and maybe receive a blessing.”

Host Tommy Ingram said groups from across the area participated in the concert.

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“We got a live, a lot of groups coming from all over the area to make sure that all the mothers in the area have a good time today,” Ingram said.

Host Adrian Monet said the free concert gives back to the community.

“Well, okay, yeah, a lot of mothers enjoy some good gospel singing. They love gospel concerts,” Monet said. “And this one is a give back, you know, to the community because it’s completely free. And so it’s a chance for people to bring their mothers to enjoy the music that they love so much.”

Erica and Jessica Harris, co-owners of Sophisticated Soul Food, said they wanted to celebrate mothers.

“Okay, we’re out here today for this pre-Mother’s Day event, and we’re just, we just want to give back to the community and celebrate all mothers,” the co-owners said. “And so we’re so excited to be out here. And we have great soul food for everybody that wants to come out.”

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Kenneth Medlock, Tyrell Gibson and Gary Durham of The Country Boys, a gospel group from Thomson, said they were honored to participate.

“So we’re just so grateful to be here and honored to be able to stand up and let the world know how good God is through our songs and our praise,” the group said.

Anthony Gallant and Lamont McDowell, members of a gospel group from the Carolinas, said celebrating mothers is important.

“Oh yeah, I think it’s extremely important because mothers work hard throughout the year. They’re very diligent,” Gallant and McDowell said. “And I think at least if you could celebrate them one time, just make them feel special and that the queens that they are, I think it’s important and they’ll feel that love.”

Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

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Augusta, GA

Historic Masters landmark purchased and renovated by local resident

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Historic Masters landmark purchased and renovated by local resident




















Historic Masters landmark purchased and renovated by local resident | News | wfxg.com


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Augusta, GA

Georgia governor candidate Olu Brown campaigns in Augusta

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Georgia governor candidate Olu Brown campaigns in Augusta


AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Olu Brown visited Augusta on Friday evening, stopping near the Sand Hills Community Center as early voting continues.

Brown is one of six candidates in the Democratic primary.

Campaign priorities

Brown said his vision as governor would focus on three main areas.

“One, it’s affordability around health care and making sure we expand Medicaid and expand Peach Care and make sure we continue to make our rural health care systems healthy and vital,” Brown said. “Number two, we’ve got to address education in all of Georgia, making sure every kid in Georgia gets an excellent education, and we’re paying our teachers more. And number 3, we’re protecting the rights of all women. Folks in the Gold Dome shouldn’t be making decisions about their bodies or the choices that they make.”

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Brown is running against Amanda Duffy, Derrick Jackson, Geoff Duncan, Jason Esteves, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mike Thurmond.

Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.



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