When Bulloch County’s new Emergency Management Agency Director Corey Kemp led the 11 a.m. Monday briefing on approaching Hurricane Debby in the county Emergency Operations Center, predictions of “potentially historic” rainfall amounts focused much of the worry on potential flooding.

That carried through in an 11:30 am. NOAA National Weather Service live video update where Warning Coordination Meteorologist Ron Morales at the NWS Charleston, South Carolina, office repeated a forecast of 10 to 20 inches of rain across the region, up to possibly 20 to 30 inches in places. He noted that these ranges were forecast for that point forward through the next two to three days and did not include Sunday’s prior rainfall.

Officials of the Bulloch County and Statesboro city governments, leaders of their law enforcement and fire departments, other public safety and public works departments, the local hospital, volunteer organizations and a power company – more than 30 individuals – attended as Kemp conducted a sort of roll call about preparations and needs.

The briefing for activation of the Emergency Operations Center, or EOC, wasn’t a press conference. But Kemp and other officials answered questions from media organizations afterward.

“The biggest thing I want to do is tell everybody to stay home,” Kemp told reporters. “From now until Wednesday about 5 o’clock in the evening, stay home; that’ll be perfect. If you need anything, just trust that you have enough in your house to get by. Do not get on the roads, and if you have to be on the road, make someone aware that you’ll be on the roads, and if you get into an emergency situation, dial 911.”

Bulloch has areas that flood in ordinary thunderstorms, so “Turn around, don’t drown,” is an important message in this situation, added Kemp, who activated the EOC for its first real event since he started work as the county’s Emergency Management Agency chief in April.  Flooding not only of roads but also of homes is possible in low-lying areas such as near Lott’s Creek, Black Creek and the Ogeechee River, he noted.

Independently of county efforts, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency had positioned a “swift-water rescue unit” at Ogeechee Technical College, Kemp said.

“If people need to get out of their homes to a safe place, then if we cannot get them ourselves, then that’s who we would call to get them out,” he said.

The county also has one search-and-rescue boat, assigned to the Sheriff’s Office.

Weaker winds, but lots of rain

By the time the National Weather Service issued its 5 p.m. Monday updated public advisory, Debby, now a tropical storm, was centered about 30 miles southeast of Valdosta, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. But it was reportedly moving forward to the northeast slowly, about 6 mph, and the NWS-predicted rainfall amounts for Statesboro through Wednesday still added up to about 10 inches, after a couple of inches had already fallen.

Chairman Roy Thompson of the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners signed a local declaration of emergency dated retroactively to Saturday, Aug. 3 at 4 p.m. and extending until 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, enabling the county to qualify for state and potentially federal assistance. The declaration also gives county officials power to impose a curfew, but no curfew had been imposed as of Monday.

Sheriff Noel Brown said he saw no need for a curfew yet for what was expected to be mainly “a water event.” But looking to Statesboro Chief of Police Mike Broadhead for agreement, Brown gave his own version of a “shelter in place” instruction, stating that it would last from Monday night through Tuesday but suggesting a wait-and-see approach for Wednesday.

Sheriff’s warning

The sheriff also added his own warning for drivers, especially drivers in their teenage years and 20s, who intentionally drive on muddy dirt roads for fun, such as in 4-wheel-drive trucks or side-by-sides, making the condition of the roads worse.

“If your kids are out playing and tearing up dirt roads, then it will be handled accordingly,” Brown said during the briefing. “There will be no warnings, there will be citing.... We had that happen here just a couple of days ago, tearing up roads in the county.”

After the meeting, he emphasized that his concern is also for the safety of those young drivers.

“Maybe moms and dads stay home with them, maybe get out the Yahtzee or some Scrabble or something and play a game at the house,” the sheriff suggested. “That might seem funny, but if I’ve got you out there moving around and the water’s over the roadway and then the road’s giving way, I don’t want somebody putting themselves in harm’s way.”

He said he hopes that “by Wednesday we’ll be able to see where we’re at as far as where we can travel and where we cannot.”

Hurricane Debby had come ashore Sunday night in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane with top sustained winds of about 80 mph, then turned eastward across northern Florida, with winds extending into southernmost Georgia. By definition a hurricane has maximum sustained wind speeds of 75 mph or faster, but the predictions for this area were always for winds in the lower two-thirds of the 40-74 mph tropical storm range.

However, Dink Butler, director of the county’s Public Works Division, said relatively weak winds could topple or break trees since the branches and ground are already soaked

“We’re going to have a certain amount because we’re already ground-saturated, so even a little bit of wind is going to get some debris,” he said. “My biggest fear is the volume of rain and what that does, especially to our dirt road system.”

As he noted, Bulloch has the most unpaved roads of any county in Georgia, somewhere between 600 and 700 miles of them.

In 2023, Bulloch County Public Works was formally recognized as a First Responders agency for its work in removing debris and clearing the way for rescues. For Tropical Storm Debby, the division would have at least four small crews scheduled to respond to emergencies Monday night, with others on-call if needed, and then its full available workforce on duty for Tuesday, Butler said.

“Tomorrow we’ll run probably 30 crews if we need them for Public Works as far as cleanup,” he added.

Those crews can include three to six workers each, including inmates from Bulloch County Correctional Institution.

Power companies braced

Electric utility companies serving the area, Georgia Power and Excelsior Electric Membership Corporation, were also gearing up to repair damage to power lines. Georgia Power’s Statesboro area manager, Joel Hanner, attended the Monday briefing.

“We do have resources in the area. We have staging areas, logistics, damage assessment teams,” he said. “So we’re ready to respond to this storm. Our main concern, like everybody knows, is going to be the amount of rain we get, what’s accessibility going to look like. We won’t know until it gets here, but we are ready to respond.”

County officials again asked that the public not call 911 to report electrical outages or damage to power lines unless a fallen line presents an immediate danger. Instead, contact your power provider to report outages.

Georgia Power has a Storm Center website, www.GeorgiaPower.com/Storm, where customers can sign up for outage alerts or report and check the status of outages and access safety tips. Customers can also report or check the status of an outage by contacting Georgia Power at 1-888-891-0938. Excelsior EMC’s number to report an outage is (912) 685-2115.

State preparations

Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Saturday, Aug. 3, making state resources available to local governments and organizations within the storm’s potential impact area. On Monday, August 5, the governor issued an additional executive order enabling the Georgia National Guard to deploy up to 2,000 National Guardsmen to aid in storm response, should they be needed. None had been activated yet.

He also submitted a letter Monday to the Federal Emergency Management Agency requesting a pre-impact emergency declaration to provide public assistance, protective measures and direct federal aid for storm preparation and response efforts.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources also had its DNR Incident Command fully operational, based at Little Ocmulgee State Park in McRae and in the process staging teams outfitted with heavy equipment, boats, chainsaws and ATVs.

The DNR will deploy 23 vessels and 50 personnel to assist with water rescues, as well as 12 debris removal teams, each with a skid-steer or tractor and two chainsaws to clear roadways, the Governor’s Office announced.

Mayor declares emergency; waste collection delayed

Statesboro Mayor Jonathan McCollar issued a state of emergency declaration regarding Hurricane Debby at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5. Separately, Tuesday’s 9 a.m. City Council meeting is still on, but Statesboro’s residential and commercial sanitation service is halted until Wednesday, Aug. 7, and then the crews will be playing catchup.

McCollar’s emergency declaration follows one issued Saturday by Gov. Brian Kemp in advance for all areas of Georgia affected by the storm and a Bulloch County declaration signed by Board of Commissioners Chair Roy Thompson Monday morning. These declarations last until 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, and help make the various levels of government eligible for emergency assistance.

No curfews have been declared, but McCollar’s declaration requests that Statesboro’s residents and visitors “take all necessary measures to stay off roads for nonessential travel and be cognizant of risks from area flooding and fallen trees and power lines.”

City sanitation service is cancelled for Tuesday, Aug. 6. Garbage collection is slated to resume Wednesday, but that day the trucks will run the Tuesday route; then on Thursday they will run the usual Wednesday route and on Friday the usual Thursday route. In other words, service has been pushed back one day.

But City Council’s 9 a.m. Tuesday meeting will go forward, largely because of the need to call a special election for the council vacancy in District 1 in time for the Nov. 5 ballot, said City Manager Charles Penny.

Statesboro Municipal Court hearings were cancelled for Monday and Tuesday, with makeup dates to be held Sept. 9 and 10.

—from staff reports