Power restoration crews have made good progress since the on-set of yesterday’s storms in Gordon County. At the height of the storm, over 4000 customers were out of power. Initial damage assessments indicated more than 100 broken utility poles. Field personnel have confirmed a greater scope of destruction as the pole count has risen to approximately 130 and the damage to electric system proves to be substantial. As of 10:00 a.m., less than 1700 customers remain without power.
Additional weather related outages occurred during the night in other parts of NGEMC’s service area. These outages have been restored, allowing crews from all NGEMC service areas to join the restoration efforts in Gordon County. Crew members from the EPB of Chattanooga, Carroll EMC, Coweta Fayette EMC, Diversified Services, Sumter Utilities, WA Kendall, Asplundh, Trees Unlimited, and CN Utility Consultants have joined the NGEMC crews, providing strong support.
As we move into the final stages of the restoration efforts, progress will move more slowly as crews are re-building spans of power lines, each of which may provide service to small pockets of customers. NGEMC officials urge residents to stay away from areas where emergency and power crews are working. Members are encouraged to prepare for extended outages, which may last through Friday in the most severely impacted areas.
For updated power outage information please visit www.ngemc.com and NGEMC’s Facebook page.
Stay away from fallen power lines and report them immediately to NGEMC, your local utility, or 911.
