LINCOLN COUNTY, Ga. (WJBF) – Lincoln County leaders told us the power and internet are back up and running, but the cleanup is still in its early stages.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,” said Walker Norman, chairman of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners. “They have to start somewhere and end somewhere.”

Piles of tree branches, trunks and “Lincoln logs” line neighborhood streets — a reminder of the storm that killed one person living in the county.

“This is by far the biggest disaster, I think, in Georgia, but I know Lincoln County. We’ve never seen anything like it. I started here in 1981 and I’ve never seen anything,” Norman said.

Crews from Ceres Environmental were in the Plantation Point neighborhood Monday cleaning it up.

“I really think what we were doing in the conversation we had with them a week ago when they started was trying to clean up the worst areas first and then start with the areas that are not as populated or less crowded,” Norman said.

The neighborhood and others near the lake were among the hardest hit.

“We had fifteen of our homes in our neighborhood that were hit by trees and had water intrusion, and then we had the other seventy homes that were damaged in one way or another” , said neighbor Beth Bridgon. “We basically end up on a one-lane road when you drive through the neighborhood, just because of the debris and the amount of it.”

Brigdon is grateful for the federal and local help, but said much of the work has been done by community members.

“The reason you see debris on the side of the road is because everyone came together to help each other,” she said. “We all became like family.”

Just like Columbia and Richmond counties, the debris removal company has 90 days to complete the work, so FEMA will reimburse the county in full. This should be done in Lincoln County by Christmas Eve.

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