Monday's storm photosA preliminary storm damage estimate in Bibb County alone tops $75 million, with more than 1,500 buildings damaged, the Macon mayor's office said this morning.
Federal Emergency Management Agency workers will be assessing the damage today, one of the first steps toward a potential presidential disaster declaration that would unlock federal money for the uninsured.
To qualify, the county, and others hit by Sunday's tornadoes and storms, will have to hit damage thresholds. Those equate to $3.11 worth of uninsured damages per person in each county and $1.24 per capita statewide, according to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, which is also working on assessments.
That process is expected to take several days, but Bibb County Tax Assessor Jim Davis went up in a helicopter Sunday to make an initial assessment. He put the preliminary damage estimate between $75 and $100 million during a recent briefing session, according to Andrew Blascovich in the mayor's office.
Gov. Sonny Perdue toured tornado-damaged areas in Macon and Bibb County this morning by air and on the ground.
The damage "was so widespread in different areas," Perdue said after speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony at Kumho Tires in south Bibb County. "The structural damage was significant, obviously."
"We will ask for the maximum amount of assistance we can get from the federal government, and the state will be willing to match that," he said.
President Bush "called right after noon yesterday and offered his support," Perdue said. "That's why the regional administrator for (FEMA) is with us to expedite assessment here. We declared a state of emergency, obviously, but to get federal help there are financial thresholds. And we want to make sure (the FEMA official) got a good look from the air and ground."
BIBB SCHOOLS TO BE CLOSED TOMORROW; SOME PRIVATE SCHOOLS TO BE OPEN
Bibb County schools Superintendent Sharon Patterson said today that there will be no school for students Tuesday.
As of 4 p.m today, 20 schools were still without power. Patterson is asking all certified, full-time staff to report to work at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
An early Sunday tornado ripped part of the gym roof off at Westside High School, as well as left about 2 inches of standing water inside the building. The storm also hurled classroom trailers around the school campus, school officials said early today.
Stratford Academy, Tattnall Square Academy, First Presbyterian Day School, Mount de Sales Academy and St. Joseph's Catholic School will all be open Tuesday.
NO CURFEW TONIGHT IN BIBB COUNTY
Macon Mayor Robert Reichert announced this afternoon that there will be no curfew tonight.
Residents are asked to stay off the streets -- and in their homes -- unless it's absolutely necessary for them to be out. Reichert also asked people to avoid the areas that sustained heavy storm damage.
Sunday night's curfew was largely uneventful and abided by, according to the police department and the mayor's office. Blascovich said there was one arrest "a gentleman they warned 4 times" for curfew violation and four burglaries reported. Three arrests were made in those burglaries, he said.
THOUSANDS STILL WITHOUT POWER IN MIDSTATE
Meanwhile, Middle Georgians continued digging out today, trying to salvage what's left from storm damaged homes, dealing with insurance companies and making preliminary repairs.
Georgia Power has pushed back its estimate of when power will be restored to Maconites still left in the dark.
Carol Boatright, a Georgia Power spokeswoman, said of 33,000 customers still out of power 30,000 are in the Macon area.
Within Macon, Boatright said the outages are still very scattered.
She said the 1,600 workers repairing lines estimate all power will be restored by midnight Tuesday.
Also, some 17 Macon Water Authority sewage pumps were running off of generators this morning and are a priority for the power company.
As the power comes on in areas, electricians have been called in to hook power back up to the homes themselves, because the meters were ripped out by high winds in some cases. That can get expensive for residents, because the cost isn't covered by the power company.
TRAVEL STILL DIFFICULT IN PARTS OF BIBB
Travel was still difficult this afternoon in many parts of Bibb County.
Eisenhower Parkway was closed between Key Street and Paul Walsh Boulevard as power company bucket truck crews worked to replace broken power poles and restring downed lines.
Bloomfield Road was still blocked near its intersection with Bloomfield Drive with downed trees and power lines, but crews from Sumter Utilities were working to clear the snarl. Traffic could travel Bloomfield Drive slowly, creeping through intersections where stop lights were still out and snaking through areas where only a narrow single lane had been cleared through the downed pine trees.
On Pineworth Road, near Lake Tobesofkee, motorists had to detour through a front yard in one place to drive beneath a dangling power line that was too low over the pavement for passage.
In many other places in the hard-hit neighborhoods, people simply drove over downed wires that lay in the road.
Everywhere in the hard-hit neighborhoods, the sounds of chainsaws could be heard as friends and relatives helped homeowners cut trees from their roofs and driveways. Blue tarps had been stretched over many damaged rooftops.
LAKE TOBESOFKEE HIT HARD; PARK COULD BE CLOSED FOR A WHILE
The storms that hit the county Sunday morning ravaged the area surrounding Lake Tobesofkee, Bibb County officials said today.
Such is the extent of the damage, officials aren't sure when he county's trio of recreational parks all of which are currently closed will open again for business.
The tornado that struck the area snapped trees, pulled down power lines, toppled structures in the park, damaged or destroyed visiting motor homes and filled the lake with debris, Lake Tobesofkee Director Doug Furney said.
"I have no idea when we can re-open," he said. "There's so much damage to each park. ...I'm hoping we can be open by Memorial Day, but these parks are totally destroyed."
Currently, the park's public boat ramps are closed to the public and the county is advising homeowners with private access to the lake refrain from putting their boats in the water.
WOMAN INJURED IN LAURENS TORNADO REMAINS IN CRITICAL CONDITION
The storm cut a swath through Johnson County that destroyed several homes, damaged many others, and felled pine trees by the thousands.
"This was by far the most significant weather event our community has experienced, just by the sheer widespread devastation," said Wrightsville Police Chief Steve Gresham.
Despite all the damage, there were no fatalities or serious injuries, but there was a Johnson County family in mourning Monday. Wadell Clements of Johnson County is the father of Tracey Clements, who was killed by the storm at his home in Laurens County.
Tracey Clements' wife, Lisa, was in critical condition at the Medical Center of Central Georgia, Wadell Clements said Monday. She has severe head injuries and brain damage, he said. But their two daughters escaped with only minor injuries. They were treated at the hospital and released.
"They are real upset but holding on," Clements said of the two girls. "They are accepting it as best they can."
STORM DAMAGE CREATES BUSY DAY FOR SOME BUSINESSES
Damaged buildings and power outages that continued today meant the loss of sales for many storm-affected businesses.
Other businesses, such as contractors and tree removal services, saw an uptick in service calls as people tried to clear and fix their property.
Meanwhile, restaurants and gas stations untouched by the storm absorbed many displaced customers.
Macon Mall remained closed but will open as soon as electricity is restored, said Lili Donaldson, the mall's marketing manager. There is some damage to the exterior of the former Parisian store, but it is "minor compared to some of our neighbors," she said.
The Macon State Farmers Market also will not open until power is regained, according to the Georgia Department of Agriculture.
Other stores, such as Target and Home Depot on Presidential Parkway, operated without power and remained open for at least part of today.
Home Depot ran a generator, which provided some light, and employees kept records by hand while the computer system was down, employee Toni Pippin said. Employees have been escorting customers in and out of the building to help them find what they need, she said.
Target sold only food, medicine and water until its planned early closing at 4 p.m., said Steven Key, one of the store's managers.
Macon council tries to stem price gouging
Macon City Council Public Safety Committee passed an ordinance this afternoon that aims to reduce price gouging by keeping track of vendors that are offering services in the wake of Sunday's natural disaster.
The ordinance requires building and repair contractors during a state of emergency like the one Perdue has declared for Bibb County, to register with the city. Separately, the ordinance authorizes the city to impose curfews during times of emergency.
Mayor Robert Reichert did that by executive order Sunday night, but the new law will provide the city with greater enforcement ability, according to mayoral spokesman Andrew Blascovich.
RED CROSS, CHURCHES OFFERING FOOD TO VICTIMS
The Red Cross and Salvation Army have mobilized, and the Red Cross has a food truck at the Freedom Park shelter on Roff Avenue near Payne City and two others in the parking lot of the old Home Depot at the corner of Eisenhower Parkway and Pio Nono Avenue. Hot dogs, snacks and water were being distributed at the trucks this afternoon at Pio Nono and Eisenhower.
Out-of-town volunteers have been called in, and help is being coordinated through the city's emergency management center, which can be reached at several numbers from 751-7200 through 751-7209.
Also today, the Lizella United Methodist Church in Lizella has prepared free meals for Bibb storm victims. The food is available to those in need beginning now and lasting until the food is gone.
Lizella United Methodist Church is located on the corner of Eisenhower Parkway and South Lizella Road.
Lunches and dinners also will be available for affected Wrightsville residents at the Mount Vernon Baptist Association facility, across from the middle school.
The Red Cross expects to feed about 500 people daily at the Wrightsville location, and dozens more from a roving Emergency Response Vehicle that will be sent to locations where recovery crews are working.
MACON RESIDENTS TOLD NOT TO BURN DEBRIS
Macon and Bibb officials reminded residents Monday that a burn ban is in effect, and that debris from this weekend's storm should not be set on fire.
"Pile it up," Macon Mayor Robert Reichert said. "We'll deal with it, hopefully, in the next couple of days."
City and county officials are developing a plan to dispose of the massive amount of downed trees. It may end up being chipped at a site or sites near affected neighborhoods.
SOUTH MACON, WESTERN BIBB HIT HARDEST
Though several places in the state were hit hard by the Mother's Day storms, including Laurens County where at least one person was killed, Macon and Bibb County was one of the hardest hit, according to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.
The tornado classified an EF2, with winds between 110 and 132 mph was thought to be the worst to hit Macon since 1954, emergency management authorities said.
South Macon was particularly hammered by the storm, and the weather service confirmed that a tornado touched down there before dawn. Four buildings sustained major structural damage at Macon State College, and more than 100 trees snapped on the Macon campus, which is closed today.
The Olympia Family Fun Center on Mercer University Drive was leveled. A wall collapsed at Carol's Linens off Eisenhower Parkway. Macon Mall sustained damage and was closed Sunday. One of the Goodwill Emporiums lost part of its roof, and the charity was calling for donations Sunday evening.
People wandered south Macon streets as the sun came up Sunday, awestruck by smashed homes, dozens of broken trees and power lines dangling in the road. Some poorer neighborhoods were among the hardest hits, and several renters told The Telegraph they had no insurance.
"Its a catastrophe," said Robert Williams, who lives off Rocky Creek Road in Bloomfield. "A lot of folks aint got no money to cut trees and rebuild homes."
Lightning from the storm was fantastic. Winds peeled trees "like bananas," south Maconite Sheree Barkley said. Churches canceled Mother's Day services. Several restaurants and businesses were closed all across the city because the power was out, and open gas stations and fast-food joints with power in the city had long lines.
Western Bibb County also was hit hard. National Weather Service forecasters said they believed the same tornadic system cut a swath from near Lizella into south Macon. Water's Edge, a subdivision on the west side of Lake Tobesofkee, and houses along Columbus Road were badly damaged.
One house in the Heath Place subdivision lost its roof but, amazingly, none of the contents inside moved. All three county parks at the lake sustained heavy damage, two county vehicles were mangled by trees, and the county's patrol boathouse was smashed, park Director Doug Furney said.
Overnight campers at the lake took shelter in concrete-block bathhouses as the storms damaged campers and motor homes. It took hours to cut through the downed trees so campers could leave, Furney said.
Travis Fain, Julie Hubbard, Amy Leigh Womack, Liz Fabian, Chuck Thompson, and Ashley Tusan Joyner contributed to this report.
