Middle Georgia Helping With Hurricane Isaac Relief Efforts

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – As Hurricane Isaac makes its way to Louisiana, Middle Georgia is stepping up to help with relief efforts.

All eyes are on Hurricane Isaac and at Georgia Power, 540 crew members are heading west to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi to help residents put their lives back together after the storm.

“They will assess damage there and determine of course how long they’ll be there to assist Mississippi Power and restoring service,” Theresea Robinson with Georgia Power said.

A Macon police officer is also helping out. Officer Samuel Riely is volunteering his time to help law enforcement in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as they wait for Isaac to hit.

“We’re actually supporting Home Depot, securing all the materials that they store for the storm from looters,” Officer Riely said during a phone interview. “Due to the fact the amount of call volume that has actually come in because of the storm, they can actually focus more on that than having to deal with some of the businesses throughout the state.”

Back in Middle Georgia, the local chapter of the American Red Cross is in alert mode. Volunteers spent days packing up supplies and the Emergency Response Vehicle is ready to go. Now all they are waiting on is the call.

“We still remain here in Central Georgia on the ready for impact here whether that impact from weather conditions or impact from evacuees or both,” La Travius Smith with the American Red Cross said. “We could leave any time now.”

Those people that are helping in the impacted areas are not sure how long they will be there. Officer Riely says he’ll stay in Louisiana for as long as he can. Georgia Power expects to be repairing power lines over the next two weeks while the American Red Cross is prepared to help with mass care feeding and sheltering.