WHEELER COUNTY, Ga. — Governor Kemp's statewide tour of communities most affected by Helene is currently underway.
Hours after suspending the state's fuel tax to help lower recovery costs, Kemp stopped in Wheeler County to address the community Wednesday night.
This is Kemp's first public address since nearly doubling state National Guard troops that will help respond to damage around the state.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for 41 Georgia counties in the aftermath of Helene.
There were initially 11 counties in the declaration: Appling, Brooks, Coffee, Columbia, Jefferson, Liberty, Lowndes, Pierce, Richmond, Tattnall and Toombs.
Kemp says he was displeased with FEMA's original decision to provide less than a dozen counties with federal relief.
He said he spoke with President Biden's Chief of Staff to advocate more counties to be added to that list.
Now, 30 counties will qualify for federal relief: Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bulloch, Burke, Candler, Chatham, Clinch, Colquitt, Cook, Echols, Emanuel, Evans, Glascock, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Lincoln, McDuffie, Montgomery, Screven, Telfair, Treutlen, Ware, Washington and Wheeler.
"We're just trying to do everything that we can to help fight for our people and get relief," Kemp said. "I called up an additional 1,000 troops this morning. Now that we got the roads cleared, we can move pods, move supplies, get bigger trucks in here, so we got more resources coming."
Statewide damage totals have exceeded $326 million so far, according to GEMA Director Chris Stallings.
He says crews from states around the country have contributed to recovery efforts.
"We've got generators here from New Jersey [and] from Missouri. We had teams down here from Maryland helping with our search and rescue. We've got ice and water coming in from Alabama," Stallings said. "The National Guard will be standing up pods, or points of distribution. We'll have those throughout the county as you need parts, water, additional food, and other resources."
After Helene barreled through 51% of Wheeler County was left without power.
Kemp said more than 20,000 Georgia Power employees worked to restore power across the state Tuesday.
140 state routes are completely clear, so Kemp said resources are now moving to the county-level.
"You got communities that are just as hard hit, that have fatalities, that feel like nobody's doing anything for they feel like they're forgotten. I said, 'That's the problem, and we gotta get that problem fixed.' Thankfully, they did." Kemp said. "Y'all are doing the lord's work. We see it, we hear it, and we're so appreciative of what we're doing for the citizens and your community and citizens of our state."