Atlanta News category interest

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Gov. Brian Kemp once again extended the state of emergency in Georgia after Hurricane Helene ripped through the state in late September.

The governor extended the state of emergency for Georgia counties hit hardest by the storm.

Those counties are:

Appling

Atkinson

Bacon

Baldwin

Ben Hill

Berrien

Bleckley

Brantley

Brooks

Bryan

Bulloch

Burke

Butts

Camden

Candler

Charlton

Chatham

Clinch

Coffee

Colquitt

Columbia

Cook

Echols

Effingham

Elbert

Emanual

Evans

Glascock

Glynn

Hancock

Irwin

Jeff Davis

Jefferson

Jenkins

Johnson

Lanier

Laurens

Liberty

Lincoln

Long

Lowndes

Madison

McDuffie

McIntosh

Montgomery

Newton

Pierce

Putnam

Rabun

Richmond

Screven

Taliaferro

Tattnall

Telfair

Tift

Toombs

Treutlen

Turner

Ware

Warren

Washington

Wayne

Wheeler

Wilkes

Wilkinson

Worth

The state of emergency will expire on Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 11:59 p.m. Before the extension, it was set to expire on Wednesday.

After coming ashore in Florida as a major hurricane on Sept. 26, Helene hit Georgia, leaving damage and power outages across the state as it barreled toward the Carolinas.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declared a major disaster for several Georgia counties after Helene moved through the state.