At least 15 people have died in Georgia after the massive storm Helene barreled across the Southeast, state officials said Friday.
The death toll across four states — Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas — hit 40 by late Friday afternoon, the Associated Press reported. Storm damage, including downed trees and power lines, made reaching victims treacherous in some areas.
At an afternoon news conference, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp confirmed that a first responder was among those killed in the storm.
“One of our finest lost his life trying to save others,” Kemp said.
Vernon “Leon” Davis, the Blackshear Fire Department’s assistant chief, died when a tree fell on his city truck shortly before 1:30 a.m. Friday, Pierce County Coroner William Wilson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Blackshear is located about 10 miles northeast of Waycross.
Davis was responding to storm calls when he was killed, Wilson said. The veteran firefighter was passionate about his work serving the community.
“That’s what he loved doing,” Wilson said.
Downed trees were the cause of multiple deaths, including several in the Augusta area. In McDuffie County, about 35 miles west of Augusta, four deaths were reported.
In the Thomson area, a 27-year-old mother and her 1-month-old twin boys died when a tree crashed through their mobile home, according to McDuffie County Coroner Paul Johnson. All three were in bed together when they were killed, Johnson said.
An 89-year-old woman also died in Dearing when a tree landed on her home, Johnson said.
Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen reported three deaths involving fallen trees. Bowen said it’s been difficult to respond to scenes due to the damage and trees on the roads.
“It’s hard to get to these places because trees are down. It’s just a chaotic mess,” he said.
In Washington County, a 7-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl died after a tree fell on their home and trapped them inside the burning house, Augusta television station WRDW reported. Another person died in Grovetown in Columbia County after a tree fell on a mobile home, the station reported.
Some 90 miles southwest, a 58-year-old Dublin man was killed early Friday when massive pine trees crashed through the roof of his house. A second person, a Kentucky woman, 48, died when the 18-wheeler she and her husband were traveling in was struck by a wind-blown tree along U.S. 441 about 20 miles south of Dublin.
Laurens County Coroner Richard Stanley III identified the woman who was killed as Angela Edwards of Eddyville, Kentucky. The coroner said the truck Edwards and her husband were in hit a tree in the highway. Before they could move that tree, another toppled onto Edwards.
The Dublin resident who died in the storm, Charles Douglas Brownlee, lived in a house that at least four giant pines keeled over on in a particularly hard-hit section of town near the city’s high school football stadium.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
