Gov. Deal: Irma Damage 'Virtually Covered The Entire State'

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal began a state-spanning tour of damage from Hurricane Irma on Thursday morning, saying that the wrath of Irma — which walloped the state Monday with tropical storm force — can be found in virtually all of the state's 159 counties.

"It's everywhere and that makes it more difficult," Deal said at Habersham County Airport after an aerial survey of damage in northeast Georgia. "The breadth of the hurricane, downgraded to a tropical storm, was so broad it virtually covered the entire state and effected virtually every county in the state to some degree."

After speaking at the airport, Deal planned to travel to the hard-hit Brunswick area on south Georgia's coast before returning to Atlanta.

Deal confirmed that he has requested federal assistance as the state recovers from the storm, which was a factor in four Georgia deaths, swamped Georgia's coast and other low-lying communities and left nearly 1.5 million people without power. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

Watch: Hurricane Irma's Destructive Journey By The Numbers

"We have made all those requests and I think we will see a very favorable response," Deal said. "We have seen very favorable response from the federal government up to this point.

State officials on Thursday did not yet have an estimate on how much recovery from Irma will cost.

Also on Thursday morning, the Georgia Department of Revenue announced it would be providing a bit of a tax break for victims of Irma.The department announced that individual taxpayers and businesses in disaster areas will have deadlines postopned until Jan. 31, 2018 if they were impacted by the storm.

This includes taxpayers who had a valid extension to file their 2016 return that was due to run out on Oct. 16, 2017. The federal Internal Revenue Service is coordinating similar extensions for folks hit by Irma in other states.

Even as Georgia recovers, Deal on Wednesday transferred $3 million from the governor's emergency fund to help pay for emergency relief in Florida. The money will go to activating 600 Georgia National Guard troops to assist Georgia's neighbor to the south and could also fund sending 50 state patrol troopers there.

Meanwhile Thursday, more than 250,000 Georgians were reportedly still without electricity in the storm's wake.

As of 10 a.m., nearly 155,000 Georgia Power customers still didn't have service, according to the company's outage map. Georgia EMC, which represents the state's electrical cooperatives, was reporting another 102,000 people without power.

Those numbers represent significant gains since Monday, when nearly 1.5 million people were without electricity. Georgia Power said it had restored power for about 80% of those initially suffering outages and that 95% of all those impacted should have their power back by Sunday night.

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Late Wednesday, the company said more than 1,000 of its power poles were broken or damaged as were 350 transformers. Crews had replaced more than 5,000 spans of wire measuring nearly 200 miles and had encountered more than 2,000 fallen trees.

Nearly 8,000 Georgia Power workers were involved in the recovery effort. The company also shared these photos of the damage its workers had encountered:

At the Habersham County Airport, Deal assured Georgians that government workers in the state are devoted to helping them rebound from Irma.

"Everyone at every level of government are doing everything they can to get back to normal as soon as possible," Deal said.

He also lauded everyday citizens who have stepped up to help their neighbors, sometimes people they didn't even know, in the wake of the storm.

"Being without power, being without cable, being without all those things that we sometimes take for granted makes you feel very lonesome, makes you feel very isolated," Deal said. "It's nice in times like this to have communities such as the ones we have here in Georgia."

HOW YOU CAN HELP
Lots of charities and organizations are offering assistance in many forms to the victims of Irma. Find the one you'd most like to donate to and give what you can. Here are some highly-rated organizations helping with Irma. There are tons more on Charity Navigator.

• Team Rubicon
• American Red Cross
• All Hands
• Americares
• South Florida Wildlife Center
• Brigid's Crossing Foundation
• Global Giving
• Save the Children
• UNICEF USA

Photos courtesy Office of Gov. Nathan Deal, Georgia Power