Weathering the Storm – Lessons and Inspiration from Hurricane Helene

A deeper look at the devastation of Hurricane Helene reveals something inspiring: our communities and our employees demonstrated enormous strength and resilience when facing down the worst that nature can throw at us.

Across the Southern Company Gas family, crews stepped up to protect our neighbors. Some emerged from the destruction with flashlights in hand and hardhats at the ready. Others piled into trucks and crossed state lines into Tennessee and Georgia, knowing their colleagues could use a hand.

The force of Hurricane Helene flooded and uprooted trees across the south, especially our Augusta, GA service area. As the storm moved on, the first line of defense for our field workers came from the storm’s own path.

“A lot of our own people were also stuck by downed trees, so people had to literally cut their way into work to respond to gas leaks,” said Doug Gunn, a field specialist out of our Augusta Service Center, hailed locally as the “firefighter” who saved a neighbor in the storm’s aftermath.

With almost no time to process the damage at his own property, Gunn responded to emergency leaks in his area. On his way to one such report, he spotted a housefire in the woods. While calling 911, Gunn wasted no time freeing the trapped resident and helping him to safety.

“It was nerve-racking,” he said. “A lot of adrenaline for those first three days, that’s for sure.”