A homeschool co-op group was forced to shelter in place for about 40 minutes at Hill Street Baptist Church in Toccoa on Thursday, Nov. 21, after a transformer blew and caused power lines to fall in the parking lot.
An urgent-sounding social media post by one of the people inside the school went up during the incident Thursday.
(We’re) currently trapped inside Hill St. Baptist Church with live, sparking power lines down in the parking lot,” Melissa Moore posted to Facebook. “The lines are starting fires under and behind our vehicles…Toccoa Fire Dept is here but can’t do anything until the power company shows up to turn off the power.”
After expressing frustration over Georgia Power’s response to their phone calls, Moore added, “We have 40+ children trapped in a building with live wires sparking fires and there is zero urgency on their part to assist us.”
Moore said it took the power company more than 40 minutes to arrive.
Savannah Caudell, a secretary at Hill Street Baptist Church, said the group was told to remain indoors until Georgia Power arrived. She said a representative for the utility company had to travel from Clayton to Toccoa, and that Georgia Power was there within an hour.
“Everybody was OK,” she said. “Just a little shaken up…he had to get the power cut off so they could leave.” She said the incident occurred at 11:48 a.m., and the power was shut off by 12:23 p.m.
“It took them a couple of hours to fix it, but it’s electricity, and you’ve got to be careful with that,” Caudell said.
It is unclear what caused the transformer to blow. Georgia Power was not immediately available for comment.
