HABERSHAM COUNTY, Ga. — Power outages continue across northern Georgia following a late night storm Tuesday that left tens of thousands in the dark
By Wednesday afternoon, Georgia Power reported less than 200 outages still in the Habersham, White, Banks counties, while Georgia EMC reported around 4,500 customers still without electricity across the northern counties of the state. Several hundred outages remained in the metro Atlanta area.
Habersham EMC still had nearly 900 customers without power as of 4:40 p.m. Wednesday. The majority of those outages were centered near Ga. 197 and Wall Bridge Rd. north of Clarkesville in Habersham County, and near the Sky Lake Dam east of Helen in White County.
Through a social media post Wednesday afternoon, Habersham EMC said additional crews have been dispatched to assist with the remaining outages.
“Thank you for your patience as we work safely and quickly to restore everyone’s power. We will keep you updated,” the post said.
The storm system downed trees and power lines and prompted a series of tornado warnings that stretched across the region.
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, at more than 16,000 customers served by Georgia Power and three electric membership cooperatives were without electricity Tuesday night, July 28.
Habersham County appeared to be among the hardest-hit, with more than 11,000 Habersham EMC customers across its service area left in the dark immediately following the storms. HEMC’s service area includes Habersham, Rabun, Stephens, Hall, Lumpkin, and White counties.
Powerful storm system
The outages followed a powerful line of thunderstorms that moved through the region Tuesday evening, bringing damaging winds, heavy rain and widespread reports of downed trees.
A tornado warning was issued during the storm, but there were no confirmed reports as of late Tuesday that a tornado had touched down.
Now Georgia Forecaster Tyler Penland said there were numerous reports of downed trees but no reports of damage indicating a confirmed tornado.
“No reports yet. Lots of downed trees but no reports of anything organized,” Penland said.
He cautioned that determining what happened could take time because the storm moved through after dark.
“Info can be very slow after dark though,” Penland said.
Based on radar, Penland said he would be surprised if a tornado reached the ground, though he could not rule out a brief touchdown.
“Based purely on radar I would be surprised if anything made the ground but it was definitely trying and may have briefly,” he said.
Crews worked overnight to assess damage and restore power. The full extent of the storm damage was not immediately known, and outage totals will continue to fluctuate as utilities identify additional damage and restore service.
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