FINAL UPDATE: Monday, January 6, at 11:15 A.M.:
A downed tree across a double circuit line in Cleveland is what triggered a power outage to nearly 1,700 Habersham EMC customers in White County during Monday's early morning hours.
HEMC Public Relations Spokesperson Mary Beth Horton tells AccessWDUN that the outage occurred at around 4:00 a.m. when a tree fell on the circuit lines in Cleveland and affected both circuits to a substation. Eyewitness accounts reported the outage affected much of the area around Appalachian Highway and area side streets, while also affected some traffic signals along Appalachian Highway and Highway 129 and adjacent streets.
Power was restored to all customers within about an hour, according to a press release from Horton on Monday.
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UPDATE: Monday, January 6, 2025 at 6:00 A.M.:
Overnight and early morning power outages in White County with over 1,700 Habersham EMC customers from 4:00 a.m. have reportedly been restored, as of 6:00 a.m. Some of the White County traffic signals and municipal lights were originally affected from unconfirmed sources for the outage, but gusting winds and rainfall was affecting the area during the outage period.
No injuries or other concerns were reported as of our last update.
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ORIGINAL POST: Monday, January 6 at 4:45 A.M.:
Windy conditions and wet weather are greeting many northeast Georgia residents for the start of their workweek Monday, while a select amount of White County residents have also dealt with power outages before dawn.
Habersham EMC's outage map and eyewitness accounts show portions of White County, particularly in the city of Cleveland, were dealing with a power outage just before 4:00 a.m., with some area traffic signals along Appalachian Highway and S.R. 129 out completely, or flashing red. Public safety officials remind commuters to treat all flashing red signals or blacked out traffic lights as a "four-way stop sign", before proceeding with caution.
About 1400 customers were originally affected, according to the HEMC Outage Map, with officials projecting a return of power at around 6:30 Monday morning.
All other areas of the region were showing no serious power outages as of 5:00 Monday morning.
