Power outages surged across Georgia after sundown Friday as winds picked up, temperatures dropped and freezing rain turned to ice on power lines and tree branches.
At about 5:45 a.m. Saturday Georgia Power’s outage map showed more than 80,000 of the utility’s 2.7 million customers were without power. Most were around metro Atlanta.
In a news release, earlier Friday, Georgia Power had warned it was possible outages could increase with “additional ice accumulation, falling trees or weather-related causes.” The company said it has moved crews from South Georgia to help and has additional reinforcements from other utilities under its parent company, Southern Company, and others from Florida it can call on.
Georgia’s electric membership cooperatives were also facing outages.
Georgia EMC, which represents the cooperatives that primarily serve rural parts of the state, showed its members had more than 7,000 customers without power early Saturday morning, according to its outage map. But that was down considerably from more than 30,000 customers without power at 8 p.m. Fridayoutage map showed.
Most of those EMC customers without power were also in counties around metro Atlanta.
As crews try to get the lights back on for customers, Georgia Power also stressed several safety tips:
- Don’t touch any downed or low-hanging wires.
- Don’t pull tree limbs off power lines yourself. If entering an area with heavy snow, debris or tangled branches, exercise caution — there could be still-electrified power lines hidden underneath.
- Anyone using a backup generator should follow all manufacturer’s instructions and not run the unit in an enclosed space. Running a generator indoors can quickly cause carbon monoxide to reach dangerous levels, potentially resulting in serious illness or death.
— Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated.
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