Habersham EMC crews work to repair power poles damaged by the storm that swept through the region Saturday night. (photo/HEMC)
High winds and a hail storm late Saturday night caused property damage and power outages across Northeast Georgia.
Extremely strong storms moved through the region between 8:30 and 10 p.m. The storms impacted extreme northeast Georgia including White, Habersham, Towns, Union, Fannin and Rabun Counties.
White County damage
The storm kept local and state utility crews busy. Around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, the HEMC outage management system showed outages occurring in the northern part of White County. Outages were reported in the Skylake community, Tray Mountain vicinity and Hwy. 75 near Airstream Park, according to a news release from Habersham EMC.
“Due to the number of trees down in the roads, HEMC crews were unable to gain access to many of the outages until state and county road crews were able to clear the roads this morning,” HEMC spokesperson Susan Baker said Sunday.
Department of Transportation District One spokesperson Katie Strickland says maintenance crews responded to the storm damaged area with several pieces of equipment to clean up debris. They worked until 2 a.m. Sunday.
In addition to dealing with downed trees on power lines, HEMC crews had to repair five broken power poles. Baker says each power pole takes approximately 6 to 8 hours to repair.
HEMC linemen and Forestry Service crews worked through the night and into Sunday evening to restore power.
Georgia Power also reported outages across the region due to the storm.
Georgia Emergency Management Agency and National Weather Service officials will be visiting the area near Airstream Park on Monday to evaluate the damage, according to WRWH News.
Habersham County damage
After the storm hit White County, it moved into northern Habersham County, uprooting trees and causing additional power outages.
The storm broke four HEMC power poles in the Orchard community and Bear Gap area. Crews restored power to that area by 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
The high winds ripped off part of the roof on Coral Heyl’s house in Turnerville. She posted a photo of it on Now Habersham’s Facebook page along with this comment, “Woke up this morning with part of my roof stuck in a tree!! What a storm last night!!”
No injuries or fatalities were reported as a result of the storm.
Tyler Penland and WRWH News contributed to this report
Updated 3/18/18 @2am
