JEFFERSON - As winter storm warnings expired across Northeast Georgia Saturday evening, officials with Jackson EMC made the decision to deactivate the company's Emergency Restoration Plan.
Officials said contract crews were released at 7 p.m., a move made possible by the fact that the weekend's massive winter storm largely spared the EMC's coverage area of any serious damage.
The company experienced "fewer than 100 scattered power outages as a result of the storm," according to a media release from Jackson EMC spokesperson Bonnie Jones.
Dwayne Ansley, the Director or Operation Services for the company, said he was grateful for the initial preparation efforts made by employees, as well as the relatively uneventful outcome.
“We are fortunate our service area escaped the brunt of the storm," he said. "Still, it’s important to be prepared for the worst and in this case we were ready.”
Jones said a majority of the outages occurred in Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson Counties, many of those caused by trees or limbs falling across power lines.
The largest outage was said to have occurred Friday morning in Gwinnett County in the area of Premier Parkway and Meadow Church Road. Jones said a tree fell and broke a power pole at that location, necessitating the removal and replacement of the pole.
While much of the Southeast has experienced a relatively warm start to the winter season, Ansley said Jackson EMC is prepared for the possibility of more winter weather, noting that a persistent El Nino could lead to more wet winter weather.
“With so much moisture in the ground, it doesn’t take much for trees to fall downing power lines, and we could possibly see more rounds of frozen precipitation before the winter is over.”
Tuesday
November 26th, 2024
9:22PM
