SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – The City of Savannah remains under a state of emergency in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Four days later, the government opened at full strength Tuesday, but leaders and crews have not taken a day off since the storm hit.
“We cannot and we must not underestimate the very real situation we’re now dealing with, which is why here at Team Savannah, we continue in our innovation to really focus on resiliency because the fact is this is not going away,” said Mayor Van Johnson at Tuesday’s press conference.
Thirty-two of the 280 traffic signals are still out, which is an improvement from Sunday when there were 104 out.
Recycling services are suspended for the time being, but sanitation crews are still working.
“Our sanitation crews did not stop,” said City Manager Jay Melder, “We paused one day Friday, for yard waste collection, and that wasn’t because we couldn’t run. That was because we wanted to give folks a day to collect their yard waste. And we were out running on Saturday yard waste collection. We will be out on our normal schedules, picking up refuse every day.”
Then there is the damage report. 339 buildings were affected, eight were destroyed, 95 have major damage, and 15 have minor damage.
As for 219 W Broughton St., the building that houses the Ordinary Pub, where the roof collapsed during the storm, city leaders said it is likely structure could be destroyed but are working to provide a concrete answer.
“I think it was condemned. I know right now you can’t enter it,” said Johnson, “and so our code compliance folks have already coned all of that off. I’m sure it is.”
As for debris, 200k cubic yards have fallen on the city, something that is going to take weeks to clear according to Melder and Johnson.
In terms of other updates, 13 roads are still closed, which is around 20 less than Friday, cemeteries remain closed, and clean up work is nearly complete on 37 public parks.
