CAMILLA, Ga. – When Hurricane Michael roared through southwest Georgia, it left the city of Camilla, Ga. damaged, without power, and eventually without water. Assistance from the Georgia Rural Water Association helped restore water service.

“I watched the radar images as the storm tracked northeastward to Camilla,” said Steve Sykes, Camilla’s Interim City Manager. “I couldn’t believe how far away from the coast this storm maintained its destructive energy.”

Camilla was left completely without power. They had generators to try to maintain water service, but two failures threatened to leave the community without water.

“Thursday afternoon our generators failed, one from fault codes and one from mechanical failure,” Sykes said.

Camilla tried to divert water from an industrial million-gallon tank, but it was insufficient to meet the city’s demands.

“Late Thursday night I was notified that our hospital had no water, in fact, Camilla had no water,” Sykes said. “We were dead in the water.”

Professionals from GRWA arrived while Camilla was waiting for new generators.

“Like ‘angels from heaven’ this talented team of water professionals restarted our main water supply pumps by repairing the generator,” Sykes said. “They also helped us diagnose the mechanical failure on the second pump site.”

The assistance helped restore water service to the community and prevent critical services from losing water after the hurricane.