The lights are back on for more than 810,000 Georgia Power customers whose service was disrupted after Tropical Storm Zeta tore through the state last week.
The utility said Tuesday morning it believed restoration was complete for all customers affected by the storm who could receive service.
Thursday morning’s storm toppled trees and downed wires. Nearly 1 million customers lost power at the height of the storm as Zeta ripped a destructive path through the state, killing at least three people in metro Atlanta.
The storm prompted several local governments to issue state of emergency orders amid the cleanup efforts, including the city of Atlanta and Cherokee and Forsyth counties.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Saturday issued an executive order mobilizing additional city employees and resources to assist in recovery efforts. Over the past few days, city officials said 15 crews worked 10-hour shifts, and additional contractors were brought on to assist power companies in their restoration efforts.
Georgia Power said the strength of Zeta was similar to that of Hurricane Michael in 2018. In a tweet, the company said crews responded to more than 500 broken poles, 120 damaged transformers and 1,600 calls of downed wires.
Zeta’s widespread destruction across the Southeast hampered restoration efforts, officials said.
“Normally, we’d tap into our network of utility partners for the quickest restoration, but since Zeta damage was so extensive, mutual assistance resources are limited," Georgia Power said.
Georgia EMC, the trade association representing the state’s 41 customer-owned EMCs, said its crews encountered thousands of downed trees and limbs and hundreds of damaged or destroyed power poles and lines.
As of Tuesday evening, 392 EMC customers were waiting to have their service restored, but only 27 of those in were in metro Atlanta. The majority of outages were reported north of the city.
“The average time to replace a broken distribution pole is four hours, which is a good example of why restoration times have been and will be lengthy for some members," association spokeswoman Terri Statham said.
As cleanup continues, utilities are warning against touching downed or low-hanging wires. Avoid areas with debris or fallen trees, as power lines may be buried in the wreckage.
Those in need of Wi-Fi can use free Xfinity hot spots, according to Comcast. You do not need to be an Xfinity customer to make use of the service, a company representative said. Comcast opened its network due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will keep it open through the end of the year.
