CLEVELAND — Power restoration efforts continue in White County in the aftermath of Saturday morning’s storm.
Nicole Dover, spokeswoman for Habersham Electric Membership Corp., said Saturday afternoon the storm that hit the area around 7:30 a.m. Saturday left significant damage.
Dover said, approximately 1,100 HEMC meters were without power as of 1 p.m., down from more than 4,500 shortly after the storm.
HEMC crews have been working since the storms moved through and additional crews from Blue Ridge Mountain EMC, Hart EMC and Jackson EMC have been called in to assist with restoration efforts.
Dover provided this information about the challenges crews are facing including:
Debris and trees blocking roadways.
Nine broken poles, several of which are along one stretch of Duncan Bridge Road. Due to the type of poles and equipment on these specific poles, it will take approximately eight hours to replace each once the debris are removed and crews can access the site.
Transmission lines which deliver electricity to substations have been damaged, resulting in a loss of power to multiple substations. Separate crews are working to repair those as well.
According to Dover, this is a two-prong restoration effort. HEMC and assisting crews are working to repair damage to lines that carry electricity from the substations to members. Georgia Transmission Corporation, which operates the transmission lines, has restored service to all substations. Due to ongoing work to repair broken transmission poles, some members will be without power until approximately 10 p.m. Saturday, Dover said.
Some HEMC members who are not affected by the transmission outages will be restored earlier as repairs are completed.
