GEORGIA (WTXL) — Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has declared a State of Emergency in three southwest Georgia counties that were slammed by a violent storm system that spawned deadly tornadoes.
The emergency applies in Grady County, as well as Harris and Talbot counties. The declaration frees up state resources to respond to the disaster.
Monday afternoon, Governor Kemp held a news conference to talk about the destruction in Georgia.
Kemp said so far, they know that nearly two dozen homes were destroyed and dozens others were damaged. Several businesses were also damaged or destroyed. Two to three thousand homes are without power.
Twelve injuries are reported and all are non-life threatening. Two of them are in Grady County, while another is in Miller County.
Governor Kemp is now heading to middle Georgia to conduct an aerial tour of Harris and Talbot counties.
"For this response, to this storm, we were just discussing that during our briefing -- it doesn't look like it will rise to the level of a federal disaster. But, we're going to continue to monitor that," said Kemp. "I don't want to say that's set in stone, yet because there's still a lot of assessments to do, which is on going. But, it doesn't look like that right now. Certainly, in Alabama, they are dealing with that situation."
Governor Kemp adds his thoughts and prayers go out to neighbors in Alabama, with tragic loss of life there and tremendous damage.
The storms killed at least 23 people in eastern Alabama and left a widespread trail of damage and destruction that also injured more than 40 people across Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
So far, more than a half dozen tornadoes have been confirmed by the National Weather Service.
