ATLANTA — As the wind picked up Sunday, thousands of residents across Georgia started to lose power leaving them in the dark - and in the cold.
At the peak, around 8 a.m., Georgia’s electric membership cooperatives (EMCs) reported that approximately 50,000 customers were without power as a result of high winds plus snow and sleet blanketing many parts of north central and northeast Georgia. On Monday, they said there are still 14,000 customers without power and that some new outages occurred overnight due to high winds.
Georgia Power said they were dealing with just 2,000 customers without power as of 5 p.m. on Sunday. This was down from the peak of more than 60,000 that were without power around 10 a.m. Georgia Power said that power had been restored to over 110,000 residents since 10 p.m. Saturday night.
Officials cautioned that outages could fluctuate as high winds continue on Monday.
"High winds and the weight of snow in particular in these areas has been a challenge as it causes trees to snap or lean into the right of way, bringing down lines or causing them to touch," EMC officials said in a statement. "Repairs have been time-intensive since outages are widespread and in some cases located in every corner of an EMC’s service area. In addition, hundreds of trees have to be cleared and removed before restoration work begins."
As of 7:05 p.m. Sunday, power had been completely restored along Ben Hill Road in East Point.
Much of north Georgia was under a "High Wind Warning," which ended around 2 p.m. There is still a "Wind Advisory" that will remain for most of Georgia until 7 p.m. Monday evening.
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