News You Can Use: Helene updates and photo gallery from Sept. 28

(Updated at 10:44 a.m. Sept. 29 – Richmond County is turning off water for 24-48 hours because of trash and debris affecting the city’s ability to pump water.)

 The morning after Hurricane Helene tore through Augusta, Tim Przybysz attempted to clean up his Montclair home.

Multiple trees lay across his roof, and he joked that the SUV was the only thing keeping his carport up. His Kia sat on the roadway, crushed beneath another tree with both the front and back windshield shattered.

 He was doing what he could, but he didn’t know how he was going to the multiple trees off his roof.

Despite the damage, Przybysz was grateful that his children were safe. They played in the driveway alongside him.

Montclair was a maze of downed trees and power lines Saturday.

Laurie Easterlin only recently moved into the neighborhood. She walked through surveying the damage. She can’t leave Montclair because of all the towering pines which lay flattened across the road.

 In other neighborhoods, people pulled out chainsaws to cut down trees in their yards and the yards of neighbors.

Georgia Power has restored service to more 520,000 Georgia residences. However, officials have posted through social media and news releases to access the outage map for the most up-to-date information.

 “The company is also managing the potential for additional power outages that could occur due to the saturated ground and weakened trees,” according to a news release from the Georgia Press Association. “The company continues to utilize additional resources from outside of its system and currently has 14,000+ personnel engaged in response, including support from Alabama Power, Mississippi Power and dozens of other companies. The response force currently engaged is larger than the company’s response to other major hurricanes including Michael, Irma and Zeta.”

In South Carolina, Dominion Energy has restored power to more than 200,000 homes. Find its outage map here.

Area schools and government offices are reporting closures – some through the middle of next week.

Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson declared a state of emergency as has North Augusta Mayor Briton Williams.

Richmond, Columbia and Aiken counties have all implemented curfews.

Traffic signals across the area are not functioning; some are missing altogether. Drivers should consider these as four-way stops.

Richmond County is accepting donations of charcoal, baby formula,  bottled water and non-perishable foods at Diamond Lakes, 103 Diamond Lakes Way; Augusta Municipal Building, 535 Telfair Street, and Southgate Plaza, 1631 Gordon Highway.

The National Guard has deployed troops; some of whom were assisting with damage on Martintown Road in North Augusta Saturday afternoon.

Hurricane Helene’s aftermath is a rapidly developing and changing story.

Check Augusta Good News Facebook page for up-to-date posts for local officials. Also, beware of rumors circulating on social media. Government officials such as Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson and Commissioner Jordan Johnson as well as Columbia County’s Scott Johnson have all taken to social media to address falsehoods on social media.

Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years and is a Georgia Press Association award winner. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.