In Photos: Westminster High School's football field submerged after Hurricane Helene hits Georgia

Hurricane Helene tore through the southeastern U.S. late Thursday night and made a devastating landfall in Florida. Even though Atlanta is located nearly 300 miles north of the storm’s center, the city felt the full brunt of Helene’s wrath as it was placed under its first Flash Flood Emergency.

Among the many victims of this Category 4 storm's destructive force was Westminster High School. Fortunately, the school’s Wildcats football team didn’t have a game scheduled that week, but the damage to their field was severe.

On Friday morning, Westminster coach Mike D’Andraia shared the extent of the damage. In a post on X, he uploaded a photo showing the football field entirely submerged in water, with only the tops of the field's goal posts, lights, scoreboard, bleachers and a flagpole visible above the floodwaters. He captioned the post:

“We picked a good week to have a bye."

Zach Klein, ABC-TV Sports Director, also shared images of the field’s condition on X.

The flooding presents an additional challenge for the Westminster Wildcats, who have had a mixed season so far with a 3-3 record.

The team opened the 2024 season with a close 21-18 loss to Lovett, but it rebounded with wins against Pace Academy (17-7) on Aug. 23, Greater Atlanta Christian (34-13) on Sept. 6 and Gilmer (35-15) on Sept. 13. All three of their victories took place on home turf, which is now rendered unusable by the floods.

Westminster's next scheduled home game is set for Oct. 11 against Marietta Kell, but the status of Fritz Orr Field remains uncertain in the wake of this severe weather event. The Wildcats will return to action on Oct. 4, traveling to Cambridge in Milton, while hoping their home field will be restored in time for their next home match.

Hurricane Helene forced multiple schools to reschedule or cancel matchups

High wind warnings have been in effect due to Hurricane Helene since Friday morning in areas like Georgia, Alabama and Florida, leading to numerous changes to football schedules for the week.

Friday night football takes center stage, but with the approaching hurricane, many games were either moved to Thursday or postponed to later dates. Some teams have also rescheduled their matches to either Saturday or Monday to avoid the worst of the storm's impact.

One of the most anticipated matchups, Trinity at St. Xavier, originally scheduled for Friday night, has been moved to Saturday evening. Butler at Southern was postponed to Sunday, while Scott at Conner was rescheduled for Saturday at noon.

Other notable games impacted include Male at Pleasure Ridge Park, now postponed to Sunday, and Jenkins at East Ridge, postponed to Saturday at noon. Spencer County at Western Hills and Trigg County at Hancock County also saw delays, with games now scheduled for Saturday.

Apart from postponements, several matchups have been canceled outright due to the storm. WEB Dubois vs. Fort Knox, which was set to take place at Ballard, was canceled, along with Paul Laurence Dunbar at Simon Kenton. Williamsburg at North Greene, a cross-state game in Tennessee, also fell victim to Helene's powerful winds, resulting in a cancellation.