AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Two weeks after Helene hit our area, local businesses are left picking up the pieces.

We checked in with a couple of them who say despite what they were experiencing, it was important for them to get up and running so they could help others.

El Rey on Washington Road is running business as usual, but that was not the case a couple of days ago.

They were without power for 13 days and lost food in one of their coolers.

“Just to restock it. It was around 14 to 15 grand just to restock that one walking cooler. So, I can only imagine for a smaller business or someone who was already struggling. It’s going to be tough to get it back up and running again,” said owner, Ramiro Galvan.

Before Wednesday, they were operating in the parking lot out of their food truck serving first responders and linemen for free.

“We had our food truck, and it was full of police officers on this side and on the other end linemen waiting to get a hot meal. It was amazing. It was amazing that we were able to do that,” said Galvan.

Just like El Rey, other businesses found ways to help others, like the Earth Pantry.

They’re a grocery store located on Broad Street.

“We opened right away to make sure that we could get food to those who live downtown, and we also wanted to make sure we could reach the people in the community because I know a lot of the regular box stores were selling out of everything,” said Earth Pantry owner, Alexia Redman.

Despite not having internet and a boil water advisory in place, Redman says they were still able to work around this so people could get necessities.

“We were able to provide water from our sinks using the boiler along with cold soaking pasta, rice. We just liked being a safe haven, doing what we can because we know people were stressed out, struggling, worrying about how they were going to feed their kids,” she said.

Around the corner at Taco Cat, they say their main concern first was their employees and making sure they were okay.

“Last week was voluntary. We worked with the people who chose to show up. Some people couldn’t afford not to work so we offered them a space to be able to work,” said Director of Operations for Frog Hollow Hospitality Group, Breannah Newton.

She says giving people a place to come and eat is a priority for them.

“Creating a sense of normalcy for a lot of people is really important to us,” said Newton.

Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A local North Augusta teacher and pilot is working to help some of the people affected by Hurricane Helene in Georgia.

“The community really did everything. I’m just kind of the delivery driver at this point. I was overwhelmed by the support from the community, and so what turned into just me flying down there, has turned into a two-plane operation,” said Travis Spears.

Augusta Aviation even donated one of their planes and a pilot to help Spears due to the amount of donations received.

Spears will fly to Baxley, Ga., bringing non-profit food, water, camping stoves and tents for families there.

Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – As many Georgians may still need a place to stay after Helene, Georgia’s Emergency Management Agency says hotel rooms are limited with some hotel chains reporting zero availability statewide.

As a result, several hotels are going for much higher than normal, sometimes nearly four times their regular rate.

The state’s Consumer Protection Division says since Helene passed through the state of Georgia, it’s received nearly 300 complaints of price gouging on everything from gas and fuel to food, and hotels.

After the Consumer Protection Division receives a complaint— it begin to investigate it.

The staff will often issue a “notice letter” to the business responsible and if they are, in fact, price gouging— they can be fined anywhere from $2,000 to $15,000 per violation.

State officials say they only expect the number of complaints to increase.

“We’re going to see more complaints come in. It may take some time for a consumer to look at their credit card statement, for example, in a month, and realize they shouldn’t have paid that much for a service or hotel room,” said Shawn Conroy of the Georgia Consumer Protection Division. “We will get complaints weeks from now.”

If you think you’ve been the victim of price gouging, the state wants you to report it.

You can call the state’s Consumer Protection Division at 404-651-8600 or file a complaint online.

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