VALDOSTA – Lowndes County is still experiencing the lagging effects one month after Hurricane Idalia’s landfall. Officials are anticipating residents to continue feeling the effects for months or even years.

The Valdosta Daily Times spoke with Lowndes County Manager Paige Dukes and Public Informations Officer Meghan Barwick Friday morning about the county’s response work connected with the storm.

The officials said there is a chain of command between local county governments and state departments when preparing for natural disasters.

“Counties are extensions of its state constitution. The State departments work legislatively for some things … directly with the county, and the county takes care of all the cities that are within that community,” Paige explained.

The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA) requires each county to designate one director over its emergency department and a Local Emergency Operations Plan (LEOP) which is an all hazards approach to any man-made or natural disaster that could occur within the local community.

The Lowndes County Emergency Management Agency is operated and managed by Ashley Tye. The agency is responsible for planning preparedness efforts yearly for any type of emergency such as weather-related incidents like tornadoes and hurricanes. The agency also plans for emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. The department covers Lowndes County and the cities within it.

When a natural disaster like Hurricane Idalia occurs, the EMA Lowndes Director is listed as the coordinator of all the services that are required or related to the response of that incident. While responding, the local government’s jurisdictional responsibilities are dissolved and they transition from separate “agencies” or “departments” like fire, law enforcement and utilities into whole Emergency Support Functions.

An example, Dukes mentioned, was the Fire Department. Families in dire need of fire services do not care whether the City of Valdosta or Lowndes County Fire responds.

“If we had a call that was inside the city but there was a county fire truck that was closer than a city fire truck, the county would just go ahead and clear the road and get it restored. It’s the same thing with the city,” she said.

The storm hit the Lowndes County area on Wednesday, Aug 30. By Saturday, Sept. 2, the Lowndes County Public Works department had cleared off about every road within the unincorporated area that they could, Dukes said.

“For our team of Public Works people, to have all that cleaned up between Wednesday night and Saturday night was a tremendous job,” she said.

The Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, Fire and Utilities department also contributed to the response efforts.

Dukes and Barwick said they received great feedback from state officials about the response and shared gratitude to the local residents for their contribution during the storm.

Residents should continue to be aware that hurricane season is still active until Nov. 30.