The lights are back on in thousands of Northeast Georgia homes and businesses that lost power Monday during the windy winter storm.
Habersham Electric Membership Corporation fully restored service to its members on Wednesday. As of early Thursday, the state’s electric cooperatives reported only scattered outages across Georgia.
That’s a big change from Monday when more than 85,000 Georgia EMC members and 200,000 Georgia Power customers lost electricity during the year’s first winter storm. At the height of the storm, Habersham EMC reported approximately 45% of its members were without power. The local cooperative, headquartered in Clarkesville, called in fifteen outside crews to assist with its restoration efforts. Georgia Power also brought in outside crews. Many of them were seen leaving the region Wednesday afternoon.
White and Rabun counties were among the hardest hit in Northeast Georgia. The storm knocked out around 30 HEMC power poles in those areas, slowing restoration efforts.
