AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Gates are locked at Augusta city cemeteries nearly three months after Hurricane Helene hit our area.

Families have not been able to visit the final resting places of their loved ones because of the devastation.

However, the process for cleaning these cemeteries is a very delicate thing.

City leaders are dealing with large amounts of debris inside Augusta’s city-owned cemeteries including Magnolia, Cedar Grove and Westview.

Leaders want you to know they are working to clean things up as delicately as they can.

Beyond the locked gates at Magnolia Cemetery, the place looks anything but peaceful.

“Cemeteries and historic properties have a different process,” said Steve Cassell, ISM Engineering. “They have to go through a review first.”

Which comes from FEMA and the state historic preservation office.

“What we’ve gotten approval to do right now is just remove the debris off of the graves without disturbing the root balls, you know, the uprooted trees,” said Cassell.

The next step is where things can get tricky.

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“We have to then come in with an archaeologist to come in and sift through that stuff and figure out what’s been there and how to rebury it,” said Cassell.

A delicate process for all involved.

“We don’t want to actually pull up any remains or anything else that could be under there, but so far it looks like there are some underground bricks and stuff like that, but we haven’t discovered anything yet,” he said.

Because the last thing workers want is to disrupt these final resting spots even more.

“The last thing we want to do is do more damage,” said Cassell. “It’s already been done. The cemetery is over 200 years old and we want to at least get it back to as close to normal as it was.”

And as far as costs go –

“All this is reimbursable from my standpoint, but you know, to be reimbursable, you have to follow the process to make sure that you do everything that you know within the guidelines,” he said.

Doing so with the goal of preserving and protecting.

“They had to do the evaluation before we could even come in here,” said Cassell.”So letting the general public in here before the officials that come in here and see it would have been not proper.”

Cassell says they don’t have a date right now as to when the cemeteries will open, but they are working with FEMA on the clean-up.

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