ATLANTA — More than 700,000 Georgia Power customers have been impacted by Helene, according to the company.
On Friday, Georgia Power CEO Kim Greene joined Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens in a news conference to report that the company is now responding to the aftermath of the storm.
"(We) want to get your power back on just as safely and quickly as possible," she said, noting that the company hopes to be able to start publishing estimated restoration times for outages.
In an interview with 11Alive's Grace King Thursday, Greene outline what "safely and quickly" means for its crews and customers.
Who is without power in Georgia?
As of Friday morning, about 720,000 customers have been impacted by the storm with little to no electricity, according to Georgia Power's outage map.
"We had a storm before a storm," Greene explained, detailing how some powerlines and areas were already vulnerable in the wake of Helene.
Greene said Middle and North Georgia would already have had heavily saturated grounds before they experienced Helene's powerful winds. Helene slammed into Florida's Big Bend as a Category 4 hurricane and moved into Georgia early Friday morning as an intense tropical storm with winds just shy of hurricane strength. The winds and already saturated earth made trees more likely to topple over, a dangerous and potentially deadly combination for customers and crews, Greene explained.
People in these vulnerable areas would most likely be without power and for a while, she said.
"Overnight and over the past, 24 to 48 hours, we've actually restored power to over 120,000 customers," she said.
View the Georgia Power map below. Follow live updates here.
When will my power be restored in Georgia?
"Unfortunately, it may be multiple days," Greene admitted Thursday.
Speaking from the Storm Center, Greene said teams are monitoring potential damage.
Describing Helene as an "unprecedented storm for Georgia, as it is a wide storm," crews will first do a damage assessment - emphasizing safety being of the utmost importance when dealing with flooding and downed power lines.
Once the assessment is complete, crews will determine which resources are needed and where. Resources can look like partnerships with out-of-state crews and the Department of Transportation. On hand, there are 10,000 resources already deployed so customers can get energy, Greene said.
"It takes a few days - it doesn't happen overnight," she said of restoring powers.
In a Friday morning update, Greene said Georgia Power is approaching the damage assessment phase.
When is it safe to restore power in Georgia?
"We don't really get people in a bucket when winds are above 35 mph," Greene said.
Emphasizing once again, safety, Greene added that Helene brought with it powerful winds and gusts that could delay restoration. Crews will be able to help restore power in a bucket truck once it is safe to go up, she said.
Calling the efforts "a multiple-day event," she emphasized that "it's important for everyone to have patience," as crews will work as fast as it is safe to do so.
Georgia Power is committed to keeping customers in the loop and will have people on the ground and line people work in various communities to help answer questions. People can follow Georgia Power on social media and find information specific to their location by heading to georgiapower.com/storm.
Watch live coverage of Helene's aftermath below: