Hurricane Helene evacuee from Georgia considering moving to Daytona Beach

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Published  September 30, 2024 8:27pm EDT
FOX 35 Orlando
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Helene evacuee escapes storm damage to Florida

Thousands of residents across the Southeast lost homes in Hurricane Helene. FOX 35 News spoke with one evacuee from Georgia who was considering relocating to Florida rather than rebuilding.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - With so many places destroyed by Hurricane Helene, some are considering whether to rebuild or move on elsewhere.

Derrick Jackson is in that camp. He spent the weekend in Daytona Beach, his hometown, after evacuating from Douglas, Georgia. 

"Everything's just gone," said Jackson. "All the lights was out. It's just devastation."

Douglas is about an hour north of Valdosta, one of the regions hardest hit by Hurricane Helene. 

"All the houses and stuff is just gone. All these big oak trees that you ain’t never seen before just landed on top of them."

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The city’s mayor says several roads are still closed, the area is still under a boil water advisory, and it could take up to two weeks to restore electricity to the whole city. Officials say Coffee County saw one of the 25 deaths Hurricane Helene wrought in Georgia. 

"The damage to our entire county is unimaginable," said Douglas Mayor Tony Paulk. "It’s nothing that we have ever seen before."

Jackson is headed back up to Georgia to see if he can salvage anything from his home.

He says the chicken farm where he worked is destroyed too.

"Can't go over the two streets without seeing a tree down in the road up there," he told FOX 35. 

Now, Jackson is weighing what to do about his future. 

He says he might choose to just move back to Daytona Beach, try to find a job, and try to move forward.

His life is now uprooted with the oaks. 

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