Hurricane Helene leaves Georgia community in ruins as families brace for long power outages

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Fear lingers in this hard-hit city, where trees toppled onto houses and several downtown buildings were destroyed. Anxious families worry their community could be without power for weeks in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

Valdosta residents seeking bottled water, ice, tarps and food passed through an ever-growing line of cars Saturday morning at the Lowndes County Civic Center.

The biggest concern, some said, was the massive power outage in their city and the uncertainty of when the lights would return.

“It’s so widespread because we got a direct hit,” Ronney Bythwood, 71, said after his truck was loaded up with supplies.

More than half a million customers statewide are without power, Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday in Valdosta near the civic center.

Bythwood said that after Hurricane Idalia last August, he and his wife lost power at their home for five days. But given the extent of the damage he saw in his community and beyond, he is worried they could now be without power “for weeks.”

“It’s going to take a lot longer. We’ve got a lot, a lot of damage,” he said. “This is like a war zone.”

As of Saturday, nearly all of Lowndes County remained without power. Pitch-black businesses lined streets, traffic lights were down and people searched for miles for the few gas stations open that could provide fuel for their generators.

Nekisha Williams, 34, said she and her family had “no lights, no power and no running water.”

Concerned for her mother and children, she drove to the civic center for help “with whatever they can give.”

Williams said her roof and sidings were badly damaged by the storm.

“All that’s gone,” she said.

In the city’s downtown, several buildings were destroyed, including a two-story building that once housed dozens of vendors. The roof caved in and an entire wall of bricks was blown away, scattering hundreds of red bricks on the ground.

Roy Rhodes, 73, arrived Saturday morning at the destroyed building where his wife once had a booth selling refinished furniture “about where that roof’s caved in” on the structure’s second floor.

“I don’t even know if she’ll be able to get to her stuff. We’re trying to salvage anything we can,” he said.

Rhodes said there was no power in the…