Augusta residents rebuild and reflect on Hurricane Helene's impact

Yahoo

08-04-2025

(WJBF) – 'Dispatch to all fire units, all fire units. If you are not on a structure fire or life threatening call, return to your station immediately!'
'I got a text from my friend that said the eyewall is about to hit, get to cover,' said Lynn Smith.
'Engine 3, respond to 107 Wesley Drive. 107 Wesley Drive for a tree on a house. Also fell on a 12 year old.'
September 27th, 2024. A night no one in Augusta will ever forget.
'We moved into the stairwell toward our basement and it was so loud,' said Smith.
'6813, Listen, we're up here in this neighborhood. We've got trees falling all the way around us.'
'I was actually asleep in their guest room when a tree fell into the room I was in,' said Carolyn Craw.
'Go where you can go, whatever station you can go to. But go there, get in, get out. Um there's nothing else we can do at this moment but you've got to get inside'.
'They came upstairs running and they just kept screaming my name and they said they thought I was dead. And I was like, I'm okay, I'm okay,' said Craw.
'We just kept feeling things hit. And then we felt wind in the house and heard water,' said Smith. 'It was terrifying. It was pitch black dark. And again we just didn't know what was happening.'
Everyone knew Hurricane Helene was moving towards Augusta, but no one expected this to happen…
'We expected it to take more of a westerly track and weaken greatly as it moved inland. It did not. It moved more towards the North east and we ended up having to deal with the dirty side of a Category 1 hurricane,' said WJBF morning Meteorologist, John Lynn.
'It was terrifying. It was pitch black dark. And again we just didn't know what was happening.'
For hours, people stayed inside, hunkered down, heeding the warnings.
'We really didn't think we'd see any injuries. If we did we thought they'd be minor, but unfortunately 35 people lost their life,' said Lynn.
When dawn broke, and people like Lynn Smith mustered up the courage to go outside.
'We lived in a forest. It's gone. It was all down. Walton Way was downed trees. We were all just walking around in a daze,' said Smith.
More than 40 trees were down, on or around, the Smith's home in the 'Hill' area which was devastated. It's one of the most recognizable neighborhoods in Augusta and just a few miles from Augusta National Golf Club.
'Every person since then who has come and seen the devastation, they say you really don't understand it until you see it,' said Smith.
And it wasn't just buildings that were destroyed.
'I came over the hill on No. 4, and couldn't believe the damage on this golf course.'
Char Cormier is the General Manager of Forest Hills Golf Club, a four mile drive from Augusta National.
'There were thousands of trees down the fairways. Flooding, the pond was way behind some of the greens 2 or 300 yards away. But the tree damage was really bad,' said Cormier.
The range and rain shelters were demolished, nets and fences were down. Cormier was faced with a huge mess to clean up.
'You had to cut our way in. You couldn't get down the roads so everyone was parked about a mile away,' said Cormier.
It was a common scene that day: cutting your way through downed trees, with power lines everywhere.
Steve Cassell is the city's debris manager. Cassell's team has been responsible for the cleanup, something no one in Augusta has ever dealt with.
'A lot of people went through hell that night. And it's not just the trees. Just think about what was happening while they were falling and people were in the houses. You look at the amount of debris and trees that came down. I mean we're at, almost over 3 million, Columbia County over 3 million – so 6 million. We'd fill Sanford Stadium twice with that.. So if you've ever been to a football game just imagine that being filled up with debris.'
Augusta's old baseball stadium is one of 7 debris sites. This one alone has been filled up at least 8 times.
'We're still dealing with a lot but it's starting to come together a little bit though,' said Cassell.
While the city cleans up from the storm, it's also preparing to welcome visitors from around the world for The Masters.
'The first Masters I came to I came down Wheeler Road and I loved the street trees. I think if you come down those areas, you're going to notice houses that you didn't even know existed. Or you're going to see houses behind houses that you didn't even know were there,' said Cassell.
Golf week is also a time when many visitors like to relax and play golf themselves.
'The normal person would have walked in here and said you guys won't be cleaned up for 6 months. Well, we all thought that too in the beginning,' said Cormier.
But despite the challenges, Forest Hills was able to open back up in just 30 days. It looks a bit different now, but many may enjoy it even more.
'It's a similar atmosphere to Augusta National now because the different venues you can see when the sun's coming up or going down. It's pretty,' said Cormier.
One way or the other, every Masters visitor will notice a difference.
'I'm sure that the Masters' guests that come year after year, they're going to be shocked because this neighborhood was a forest. And the tree canopy is gone. It's disappeared,' said Smith.
'So 20 years we've lived here and it's just really sad. Just because this was our home growing up and all, and now it's just very different,' said Craw.
Chainsaws roaring has replaced birds chirping as the sound of Spring in the Garden City. But another new normal has blossomed: strangers quickly turning into friends and family. Helping to a heal a community, so badly hurt.
'I think everyone has been in such good spirits. Like as a neighborhood we've all just kind of gotten together and everyone's sharing,' said Craw.
'It gives you just this enormous sense of community…and caring,' said Smith.
Gary Hipps Photojournalist.
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