It was a hectic night for first responders and emergency crews Monday in Habersham and this morning brings more of the same. While the frozen precipitation has stopped, the effects of twelve hours of icy buildup are evident.
Habersham Emergency says many trees have fallen throughout the night and urges drivers to use caution. Smith also warns that, while roads may look clear, there is always the possibility of black ice.
Thousands are still without power throughout Habersham County and the region. Georgia Power and Habersham County EMC worked through the night and continue to work to restore power to affected areas.
As of 5 a.m., approximately 6700 Habersham EMC members were without electricity as the result of scattered outages throughout HEMC’s six county service area (Habersham, Hall, Lumpkin, Rabun, Stephens and White).
Ten additional crews from cooperatives throughout the state will be arriving today to assist with restoration efforts. Contractor crews have also been brought in to assist with tree removal. Some efforts have been hampered by the large amounts of trees brought down by the ice. Power crews had to cut their way into areas overnight in order to work on downed lines.
“This is a major event and unfortunately some members will experience long term outages of four or five days. HEMC members are asked to please contact the cooperative every four to six hours to report continued outages,” says HEMC’s Nicole Dover.
Outages may be reported by calling (706)754-2114, (706)865-4362 or (800)640-6812 OR online at www.habershamemc.com. Outages SHOULD NOT be reported via HEMC’s social media pages.
Below is the breakdown of outages by county as of 9:30 a.m. 2/17/15:
Habersham – 4170
Hall – 548
Lumpkin – 275
Rabun – 211
Stephens – 59
White – 3060
Total 8,323
Meanwhile, GA Power is working to restore power to more than 77,000 customers in northeast Georgia. As of 9:30 am the utility reported 989 outages spread across the region. 18,720 people wre left without power in Hall County, 2,300 customers in Habersham.
You can report and track power outages online at https://outagemap.georgiapower.com/external/default.html and https://outageview.habershamemc.com.
