AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – FEMA has been boots on the ground in our community for the last two weeks after Hurricane Helene.

But now, they have a more semi-permanent place in our community.

It’s all happening at the HUB in Augusta.

The new Disaster Recovery Center will be opening on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Helene left widespread damage across our area. Debris is in the process of being removed by various counties.

Since then, some people have been putting in damage claims both with insurers and FEMA.

Now, Jovanna Garcia, media relations specialist for FEMA, says it’s important for them to be in direct contact with people like you who have been impacted by Helene.

“We’ve been here since day one, since the beginning. Actually, pre-positioned before the hurricane hit. But the thing is that in order for families and those that were impacted to feel that a sense of us being here, a sense of us here to help, having this community center here, localized in an area that has been heavily impacted, but it’s also accessible for a lot of people to receive assistance,” said Garcia. “We don’t know exactly how long we’ll be here, but FEMA is not going to leave. We’re here to stay until everyone receives the assistance necessary for them to start their recovery process.”

She says they want people to come to the center and register with FEMA.

You can update and check your registration there.

Garcia says these are the top things to do when applying for FEMA assistance:

• File a claim with your insurance company
• Register with FEMA Follow up with FEMA
• Meet with an inspector
• Keep up with your information with FEMA.

Garcia also had important advice as the process goes on.

“The most important thing is that once they register, they have to keep up with their information updates. They’re going to get a call from an inspector, and inspectors got to come out to the home. But the biggest thing is staying informed with us,” she said.

If you get a determination letter or need to follow up with documents, you can go to the center as well.

If you cannot get there, you can call 800-621-3362 or visit disasterassistance.gov. There are options for different languages if needed.

Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

THOMSON, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Part of Interstate 20 is going to be closed for emergency utility work on Sunday morning, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

The closure will be between mile markers 175 and 183 in both eastbound and westbound lanes.

GDOT announced that Jefferson Electric Cooperative needs to do emergency utility work near the mile marker 178 and White Oak Road overpass.

The interstate will be closed in both directions starting at 6 am.

GDOT says the work should take no longer than two hours.

Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

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.

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