Carrollton is feeling the effects of Hurricane Harvey nearly a week after the massive storm made landfall on the Texas coast. With at least 37 confirmed deaths and more than 52 inches of rainfall, Harvey has wreaked havoc across the deep south.
“We’ve experienced some heavy rainfalls just from the outer bands of the hurricane, but we don’t expect to see any local flooding right now,” said Carroll County Emergency Management Association Director Tim Padgett.
The Carrollton-area is now seeing Harvey’s effects at the gas pump, as prices have risen in recent days.
“We have received an email from our partners at Colonial Pipeline saying that they have had some interruptions in their pumps coming from Houston, but they’ve brought other pumps online and are continuing,” said Padgett. “We haven’t seen any shortages so far. Historically when you have this type of event in the Gulf, you see shortages.”
Padgett said flood victims are still in the response phase in the affected areas in south Texas.
“They haven’t—as far as we know—requested anything from mutual aid equipment from other agencies,” said Padgett. “We do have a Georgia search and rescue team from Area 6 that has been put on standby, but hasn’t been activated at this time. This truly is an epic storm: it’s unheard of to get 52 inches of rain.”
Southwire Company’s Project GIFT has been leading local flood-relief efforts with a community-wide disaster-relief collection.
“It’s been incredibly successful, and we’ve had a huge outpouring from the community,” said Kristian C. Whittington, Southwire’s manager of employee engagement and communications and Project GIFT coordinator. “We’ve had over 100 volunteers sign up. We’ve collected everything from water to canned goods, but we are still in need of hygiene items, and outdoor cleaning items like rakes and shovels.”
The collection is being held in the parking lot of the Walmart Supercenter in Carrollton, Georgia, until 7:00 p.m. today and from 7:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on Friday.
Items accepted through the collection include bottled water, paper goods, cleaning supplies, nonperishable food, baby items, pet supplies, personal hygiene products, ice chests, and more. Clothing will not be accepted.
“We just want to thank our community partners and people in the community for their outpouring of support,” said Whittington. “We challenge each and every one of our neighbors to step up and help us collect as many supplies as possible.”
For additional information on the disaster relief collection, visit Southwire’s social media sites or call (770) 832-4729.
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