BLAKELY, Ga. (WDHN) — As of Monday morning, much of Early County is still without power, and it will be some time before the county’s grid will be totally restored.

In the meanwhile, some residents said they hoped that Gov. Nathan Deal will visit them soon to see the damage first-hand, just as Florida’s Rick Scott and Alabama’s Kay Ivey did right after the storm cut a deadly path of destruction through the tri-state area, claiming the lives of 18 people — a number that’s expected to climb.

“I hope he comes down,” one Blakely resident said. “He needs to be aware of what’s going here as well as what goes on in Atlanta and places where his … benefactors are. Hopefully, he’ll come down.”

“Well if he has something more positive to do, yeah, that’ll be fine,” Donnie Lee said. “But if he doesn’t have anything else to do, southwest Georgia, he gets votes here. He should be down here to at least visit and see how the destruction was here.”

For Blakely Mayor Anthony Howard, it really doesn’t make a huge difference to him if the governor comes or not.

“Well, I won’t say that it disappoints me,” Howard said. “Governor Deal has done a great job with the state of Georgia, and he is winding up his last few months in office so it really doesn’t disappoint me because whether the governor comes to Blakely or Early County or not makes no difference on the progress that we are making to get things set back up.”

Well, Early County residents may get their wish, depending on how the governor’s plans turn out.

A representative within the governor’s office said that the Governor will visit southwest Georgia with Vice President Mike Pence to survey the damage. Thursday, the governor will make another visit to hard-hit counties that he did not see in his earlier visit.

The representative said that the details have not been set in stone just yet, but it may be possible that Deal will swing by Early County and the surrounding areas.

WDHN News will be following this story as more information comes from the governor’s office.