Electric Membership Cooperative (EMC) Outages Continue to Decline
TUCKER, Ga., Feb. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Since 5 a.m. today, electric membership cooperative (EMC) crews have restored power to 55,000 customers in hard-to-reach and remote areas of northeast Georgia.
As of 8 p.m. EMCs report 79,000 customers without power, down from 89,000 this afternoon, and 134,000 at the height of the storm.
EMCs are battling tough conditions, severe damage to power lines, completely destroyed power poles and impassable roadways in many areas. Hours have been spent clearing debris and trees before work could begin on downed lines.
All available resources have been dedicated to the restoration effort, including bringing in several hundred additional line crews. Local EMC crews, EMC line workers from across the state, private contract crews and additional right-of-way crews have been working non-stop since the winter weather arrived. Crews from Alabama and Florida will be assisting as well.
Damage has been especially problematic in Forsyth, Hall, Gwinnett, Lumpkin, Dawson, Cherokee, Jackson, Banks, Barrow, Habersham and White counties. Currently, most EMCs estimate that the majority of customers will be restored within 24-48 hours, while some outages will take longer due to the nature of damage and because some outages are located in remote areas.
Georgia EMC is the statewide trade association representing the state's 41 EMCs, Oglethorpe Power Corp., Georgia Transmission Corp. and Georgia System Operations Corp. Collectively, Georgia's customer-owned EMCs provide electricity and related services to 4.4 million people, half of Georgia's population, across 73 percent of the state's land area.
SOURCE Georgia EMC
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