Georgia’s power grid is hit hard by Hurricane Helene

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – To deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Georgia Power deployed more than 10,000 employees assembled ahead of the storm.

Although extensive damage assessment and cleanup has begun, no one knows when power will be restored in Augusta.

It will be a task as some 730,000 Georgia Power customers — and apparently most of Augusta — are without power across the Peach State on Friday.

Electric cooperatives such as Jefferson Energy reported about 393,000 members without power, mostly in south and southeast Georgia.

The cooperatives said the damage was catastrophic, particularly on the eastern side of the state from the coast to greater Augusta, as well as in Valdosta and surrounding areas.

With downed trees and downed power lines blocking roads, many road rangers stepped out on their own to safely exit the co-op offices and staging areas and begin damage assessment and restoration work.

Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson said at a news conference Friday that Georgia Power had stationed 1,000 crew members in Augusta to prepare for the storm.

Almost 4 million households and businesses were without power on Friday morning in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.

All of Georgia is affected by the storm, but Augusta, Savannah and Valdosta are hardest hit.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

View the map of Georgia power outages

Hurricane Helene continues to impact Georgia and has caused widespread outages. Teams respond to outages and safely restore power where possible as quickly as possible.

At least 730,000 Georgia Power customers were affected by Hurricane Helene.

The power grid across the state suffered significant damage as the storm moved along early Friday with gale-force winds and heavy rain, according to the utility.

Due to a day-long downpour on Thursday, the ground was already soaked and many trees fell with their roots loose.

Others broke with winds of up to 130 km/h.

Across the Augusta area, many of these trees ended up on power lines.

There were stretches along the Gordon Highway near Fort Eisenhower Friday morning where damaged trees outnumbered intact ones.

Making matters worse, Hurricane Helene severely damaged power lines used by cooperatives, Georgia Electric Membership Corp. reported.

Many transmission towers have collapsed and fallen trees need to be removed from transmission lines.

Georgia Transmission reports that more than 100 power lines and nearly 100 substations are down.

Crews continue to assess the damage while working to return these lines and substations to service.

With the number of outages more than double the number caused by Hurricane Michael in 2018 – the worst damage to Georgia’s power grid in decades – cooperatives warn there will be significant delays in full restoration.

Thanks to mutual aid agreements with cooperatives across the United States, crews and equipment are coming from Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Ohio and Alabama to help. There may be other teams coming.

Power outages in CSRA

Georgia

• Burke County: Up to 4,996 customers.
• Columbia County: Up to 61,949 customers.
• Emanuel County: Up to 4,914 customers.
• Jefferson County: Up to 4,179 customers.
• Jenkins County: Up to 1,463 customers.
• Lincoln County: Up to 1,562 customers.
• McDuffie County: Up to 5,831 customers.
• Richmond County: Up to 76,464 customers.
• Screven County: Up to 71 customers.
• Taliaferro County: Up to 516 customers.
• Washington County: Up to 1,388 customers.
• Warren County: Up to 25 customers.
• Wilkes County: Up to 382 customers.

South Carolina

• Aiken County: Up to 56,571 customers.
• Allendale County: Up to 3,283 customers.
• Barnwell County: Up to 3,486 customers.
• Bamberg district: Up to 2,140 customers.
• Edgefield County: Up to 7,565 customers.
• McCormick County: Up to 1,456 customers.
• Orangeburg County: Up to 6,375 customers.
• Saluda County: Up to 5,821 customers.

What lies ahead?

Georgia Power said damage assessment is an essential part of an efficient recovery and represents the first phase of the recovery process once the storm has cleared affected areas.

Damage assessment teams enter the field and begin restoration as soon as conditions permit.

These teams are followed by repair crews depending on the extent of the damage and access to the area.

If weather conditions improve, recovery efforts may be accelerated, but due to the size and severity of Hurricane Helene, extended outages are possible.

“We will be using drone technology and damage assessment teams to look at the lines and figure out where the problems are and send linemen out to the field to repair the lines,” said Georgia Power’s Matthew Kent.

In the event of a power outage, you will still be connected to our First Alert Weather Team.

Georgia Power employees will operate their storm center 24 hours a day, even sleeping at the headquarters to keep an eye on where power outages are occurring.

“We have continued to develop our smart grid and our self-healing grid over the years,” Kent said. “And one of the benefits of that is that if we determine that a power line is down or a sector is down, we can potentially reroute power to homes that are not directly affected by that down power line.”

But Helene is a big storm, and because it’s going to affect the entire state, they’ve called in reinforcements.

OTHER HELP:

• The Salvation Army in Augusta will provide additional cots on Wednesday evenings. Both the men’s and women’s dorms are full, but the extra cots are for anyone who needs shelter from the storm. Check-in is normally at 4:00 p.m., but for Thursday and Friday this is moved to 1:30 p.m. Note that you must obtain permission from the sheriff’s office and bring photo ID before heading out.

“We have resources and crews from the north to the south. And we’re also bringing in people from our sister companies Alabama Power and Mississippi Power as needed, but we want to make sure we have all the resources available here so we can restore power quickly and safely,” said Amanda Arnold, a Georgia spokesperson Power.

“You can go online at georgiapower.com/storm and sign up for outage updates. So if there is an outage in your area, you will be kept informed. Once that happens, you will receive a text message on your phone,” Georgia Power spokeswoman Alicia Brown said.

They also want to emphasize that if you don’t see a truck, it doesn’t mean they aren’t working.

They may be able to turn the power off and on again using one of their smart devices.

They could also work from a mobile command center not too far away.

Georgia Power officials advise unplugging things you don’t need – things we like to turn off but still leave plugged in.

Brown also points out that there is no word on how long people should expect a power outage until the storm passes and is assessing the damage.

If you experience a power outage, you can report it by calling 888-891-0938.

GENERATOR TIPS:

• If you have a portable generator, fill up your propane cylinders and gas tanks as quickly as possible. Because if there is a power outage due to Hurricane Helene, the propane gas stations will have no electricity to power their pumps. Mark Holloway, CEO of Modern Gas, says to expect at least a two-day power outage. And don’t run the generator in or even near your home. The exhaust fumes will kill you through carbon monoxide poisoning.

Tips from Georgia Power:

• Outage warnings: Customers subscribed to our free Georgia Power Outage Alert service will receive personalized alerts and updates via SMS. Make sure your contact number is current to receive the latest information.
• Outage and Storm Center: Available at https://www.georgiapower.com/about/safety/outages-storm-center.html?cid=redirect_vanity_storm. Customers can visit this website to check that their contact information is updated, receive and report outage alerts, check status, find out about outages, and access useful safety tips and information. Customers can also report and check the status of an outage 24 hours a day by contacting Georgia Power at 888-891-0938.
• Failure map: Georgia Power’s interactive outage map, housed in the Outage and Storm Center, provides near real-time information so users can see where outages are occurring across the state and track estimated restoration times.
• Georgia Power mobile app: Download the Georgia Power mobile app for Apple and Android devices to access severe weather and outage information on the go.
• @GeorgiaPower on X: Follow @GeorgiaPower on X for storm tips, outage updates, customer service and more.
• Before a storm: Be alert, follow advice from authorities and check the weather forecast before heading outdoors. Review your emergency kit and family plan. Unplug essential devices and charge cell phones in case the power goes out.
• During a storm: Seek safe shelter in a sturdy building, away from windows and doors. Avoid contact with electrical conductors – devices, metal objects and water.
• After a storm: Never touch fallen or low-hanging cables, including telephone or television cables that touch a power line. Never remove branches from power lines yourself, or enter areas with debris or fallen trees, as downed power lines could become buried under debris. Customers should call 911 or Georgia Power immediately if they see a downed or low-hanging power line.

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