‘We had a lot of downed trees’: Strong winds from Idalia impact McIntosh County

MCINTOSH COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - Idalia made her way to McIntosh County bringing high winds throughout the community.

People there had mixed expectations for the storm.

“This will be the first time in 100 years since McIntosh County has had a hurricane. We have had close brush byes that went up the center of the state or went offshore in the Atlantic and we have gotten hurricane gust from some of them but never sustained winds,” said Ty Poppell, the Emergency Management Agency Director for McIntosh County.

And the wind was surely one of the main characters in this story...

In this shrimping community - boaters, while cautious, still made time to check on their charters.

Throughout it all, emergency management officials made sure to warn everyone to find a safe sturdy shelter to weather the storm in.

“Couple years back we had storms come in for Hurricane Matthew. They blew down the weak trees and weak limbs. Now over the years since then we have gained more weak trees and limbs and lines and we expect those to fall with this depending on the wind,” said Poppell.

Throughout Darien, trees and branches were broken on the roads even one knocking the power out for residents in the area.

“We had a lot of downed trees, just about the whole city is without power but we are blessed God is good and we spared us no one has lost their lives no one has been hurt first responders are top notch and on the ball,” said Darien Mayor Hugh Hodge.

The mayor says falling trees is common when the city has a storm... as well as neighbors helping neighbors.

“Just anytime we have a disaster or need, this is one thing I love about Darien - it is growing a lot smaller but it still has that small-town love for each other. We all pull together and when we all need something neighbors come and help,” said Mayor Hodge.

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