ATLANTA — Georgia Power and Georgia EMCs are ramping up resources ahead of the expected Gulf Coast landfall of Hurricane Zeta on Wednesday afternoon or evening.
Following the storm's landfall, it is expected to accelerate northeastward, moving across parts of Mississippi and Alabama, before moving into Georgia with high winds and heavy rainfall amounts.
Due to ground that has already become highly saturated due to earlier heavy rainfall along with anticipated high winds, Zeta is likely to bring down trees that may cause power outages over a significant part of the region.
In a release on Wednesday, Georgia Power said they are encouraging customers to use the time on Wednesday to prepare and keep safety in mind when threatened with possible dangerous conditions and storm damage.
► POWER OUTAGES CHECK | Georgia Power customers, check here. Georgia EMC customers check here.
Georgia Power said they are continually monitoring the changing weather conditions around the clock as the storm moves toward the coast.
Officials with Georgia Power have three major storm preparedness tips:
- Before a storm event: Check your emergency kits, unplug major appliances, and charge cell phones in the event of losing power.
- During a storm event: Have multiple ways to receive emergency notifications and weather updates. If you're advised to evacuate the area in which you're in, please follow the instructions of local officials immediately.
- After a storm event: Never touch a downed or low-hanging power line -- including telephone or television wires that may be touching a power line. Never pull a tree limb off of a power line or enter an area with storm debris or downed trees or power lines that may be buried in wreckage. Finally, please don't drive or walk through standing water, as there may be live wires that may have been brought down by the storm and be hidden.
Georgia Power and Georgia EMC both have outage maps that customers can check to determine how wide an outage is in their local area.
Georgia Power customers may contact them at 888-891-0938 to report an outage.
Georgia EMC customers may report outages by contacting their local electrical membership cooperative.
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