Local Red Cross volunteers provide Debby aid in Savannah

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – It’s been a little more than two weeks since Hurricane Debby swept through Florida and then hit Georgia and the Carolinas as a tropical storm.

While we got nearly a foot of rain in some of our southern counties, places along the coast like Savannah got hit the hardest.

Augusta became a hub for relief organizations to ship out supplies in the aftermath of Debby.

Now, Augusta volunteers are heading south as well to help with recovery efforts.

It’s been more than a few weeks, but people are still feeling the impact like it was yesterday.

“I know that we have a couple of Augusta people that are in the Savannah area right now, and what they are doing is that recovery type of stage. So, they’re doing disaster assessment, so literally driving down all the streets, looking at the houses, seeing what houses have been damaged or destroyed, so that we can help them recover,” said Susan Everitt, executive director of American Red Cross of East Central Georgia.

Since Tropical Storm Debby, more than 500 volunteers have passed through Augusta to help along the coast, passing out meals, clean-up kits and more.

Frank Spears lives in Augusta and arrived in Savannah Tuesday night.

“200 hundred households have been affected in the Richmond Hill area. I’m gonna walk you around a bit here. Red Cross volunteers are here now doing intake and as we are doing the intake we are meeting with the people that have the greatest need and serving them with financial assistance,” said Spears.

He is also helping assess the damage.

The Red Cross says at least 420 homes have been damaged or destroyed overall, but that number could increase.

“They’ve given us lists of people that have destroyed houses or major damaged houses, and they’re the ones that were immediately helping. But we’re discovering, is it, there’s a lot more flooding here than we knew, and we’re trying to assist and help them in every single way. So, what we’ve seen is just amazing damage from the floods,” said Spears.

Augusta was ready for any sort of impact but stepped up where the impact was greater.

“There’s still water in some of the streets, but you can’t imagine what’s been left in those houses. It’s not good. It’s not good. Most of them did not have flood insurance, so homeowners’ insurance doesn’t cover it,” said Spears.

Spears says he’s helping in any way he can and encouraging others to also.

Everitt said: “At this point, we would love for people to volunteer to be prepared for the next disaster that comes because we know it’s going to be a very intense disaster season this year.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says 2024 could be one of the busiest hurricane seasons on record.

If you want to volunteer to help with disaster relief through the Red Cross, visit

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