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.

Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – We’ve visited several distribution sites across Augusta this week, and on Thursday, we were at the HUB.

Even two weeks later, many people are still in need of help getting ahold of the basic necessities.

The need is far from over.

United Way says their call volumes have doubled since the storm. They say a lot of the calls are first-timers needing help.

United Way says this hurricane impacted everyone in our entire community.

It doesn’t matter what zip code you live in. Everyone has experienced it in some way.

“Our plan was to canvass Harrisburg and to do wellness checks and get them the resources that they need food wise, you know, small scale,” said Christy Beckham, volunteer at the HUB.

The scale broke as the need for food, water and basic necessities exploded across the area.

The HUB is just one of several distribution sites in our area.

Those in charge say the more than 100 volunteers serve more than 500 cars a day.

“Storm did not choose the rich and the poor and the rural or the city. It hit us all. And it was a huge community undertaking and it’ll be years before the city recovers in lots of different ways. But if people could jump in and help, they could and they did. I mean, it’s unbelievable who is here,” said Beckham.

Everyone is impacted in some way.

Brittany Burnett, United Way president and CEO, said: “With over half of our community struggling before the hurricane, now we’re looking to see how much more of our community is actually going to be struggling after this disaster has passed. And so, it’ll take a while for us to assess that. But we’re here to help support again, not that just the immediate needs, but those long-term needs as well.”

Burnett says they have people calling to offer help, and then calls from people who need help.

“There’s a lot of great resources up front, but as time goes on, some of those resources go away. And so, people want to be here for the short-term recovery, but they’re also here to help in the long term and really realize that it’s important to continue to give back to your community, not just immediately after the storm, but in the days and weeks and months to come,” she said.

Burnett says United Way has launched a disaster response fund on their website.

She says that will help not only the immediate needs but the long-term needs as well.

She says the best way people either need help or they want to give help is to call 211.

Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

AUGUSTA, GA – The final fall event for Augusta University’s women’s golf team will be The Southern, hosted by Georgia Southern Oct.14-15 in Statesboro, Georgia. With all the new, young faces the Jaguars have this season, it’s been on-the-job training for a lot of the team.

It’s been a work in progress for new coach Ember Holloway and the team as they feature three freshmen and three sophomores. For most of the team, this is their first time playing at the highest level of collegiate golf and it hasn’t come easy. While the results haven’t been what they have hoped for, Holloway knows there is progress being made.

“We’re just trying to build each time we step out there in competition. So we’re really building towards the spring and the post season.So all the little things in practice and polishing up and just wanting to see us get better and improvement from each person,” said Holloway.

Playing in the bigger events against some of the top programs will help the Jaguars in the long run.

“Getting to see where those teams were at in the Windy City Collegiate, showed us where we need to get to, so it was a good event for us to do that,” added Holloway.

Marine Legentil was the low Jaguar the last time out at the Windy City Collegiate and has posted scores in the 70s in five of her last six rounds.

The Southern has 13 teams competing including Cincinnati, Florida Atlantic, Charleston Southern and the host, Georgia Southern.   

 Fans can follow Augusta University Athletics at www.AugustaJags.com and receive updates on Facebook at Augusta University Athletics, on X at @AugustaJags, and Instagram at @augustajags.
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