A military truck passes through Moultrie Friday morning, part of a convoy headed south to assist with the aftermath of Hurricane Michael.

ATLANTA – Governor Nathan Deal has extended the state of emergency for 21 days in order to assist residents and local governments with the impacts of Hurricane Michael and ensure state resources are available to them. The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency continues to coordinate with its partners on the response and recovery efforts for Georgia, according to a press release from GEMHSA.

Power crews are prioritizing damage assessments and power restoration to the 250,000 citizens who are currently without power, while Georgia Forestry Commission and Georgia Department of Natural Resources have chainsaw strike teams operating in multiple counties to clear trees and debris from roadways.

Georgia Department of Transportation reports 36 state routes remain closed and an additional 83 that do have debris but are currently passable. All GDOT crews are continuing to work on storm response.

The Georgia State Patrol deployed seven teams of troopers and MCCD officers to supplement locally stationed Georgia Department of Public Safety officers. They are patrolling affected areas and supporting local agencies and law enforcement actions and providing citizen support as needed during their patrols.

Moderate communications outages are being reported in the affected areas, and GEMA/HS is working with all telecommunications carriers in deploying assets to sites experiencing outages.

Georgia Department of Agriculture is managing response operations to assist with animal sheltering and agricultural needs. There are currently 14 animal shelters open with more than 200 animals being housed. GDA encourages producers to utilize the recently launched USDA disaster assistance discovery tool that walks producers through five questions to help them identify personalized results of which USDA disaster assistance programs can help them recover after a natural disaster.

The Georgia Department of Public Health is coordinating with eight hospitals and 25 nursing homes that are running on generator power.

The American Red Cross has three shelters open and GEMA/HS, with support from the Georgia National Guard, have six points of distribution set up to distribute food and water. 

Deal has also authorized $200,000 from the Governor’s Emergency Fund to help Second Harvest of South Georgia in assisting with relief operations including providing water, meals, and supplies to other relief organizations and shelters.

GEMA/HS will continue to work with local, state, federal, public and private sector partners to ensure resources and support are available to the areas and citizens affected by Hurricane Michael.