Entries by Walter Geiger

As of 9 a.m., Thursday morning 2313 members remain without power. We have 106 linemen working to restore power across our entire system. Yesterday morning we started with 7109 outages and crews restored power for approximately 4796 members. We hope to make a lot of progress today at which point we should be able to make a better prediction about when we expect full restoration to occur. Crews are encountering countless trees on lines in areas that are difficult to reach with bucket trucks and broken poles, each of which takes an average of four hours to replace.

Breakdown by county:
Bibb - 304
Crawford - 148
Lamar - 401
Meriwether - 171
Monroe - 266
Pike - 746
Spalding - 109
Upson - 41

Mr. Don Nicholson, 54, of Barnesville, passed away Wednesday, September 13, 2017, at the home of his cousin, Sheila Nicholson surrounded by family in the Piedmont community. [Full Story »] 

Electrical service to city of Barnesville customers has been restored as of 1 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13.

Those who remain without power in the county may come to the fire station next to city hall and fill up containers free of charge. According to Niki Sappington, the city will gladly provide water to those with both small and large containers.

All access slideshow of Barnesville damage and cleanup inside.

[Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

Part reunion, part homecoming and pure Americana, Barnesville-Lamar County is in the throes of the 44th annual Buggy Days it has hosted.

A group of community leaders, searching for a way to bring visitors - and their money - to the community came up with the idea of the festival honoring Barnesville’s heritage as the center of the Buggy manufacturing industry before the horseless carriage put an end to it all. [Full Story »] 

The Gordon Lady Highlanders (6-0, 2-0) won three straight games last week to remain undefeated for the 2017 intercollegiate soccer season.

On Sept. 1, GSC hosted LaGrange College, coming away with a 3-1 win. Jillian Lander led Gordon with one goal and one assist while Jordan White and Skyler Bertram each added goals. Jordynne Godsey and Nicole Reynoso had one assist apiece for the locals. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

Lamar County has been approved for $750,000 in community development block grant monies to construct a new center to house the local health department. The department is currently located in the dilapidated former Barnesville Academy facility.

The new center will be built on county-owned land at the corner of Redbud and Academy drives. [Full Story »] 

As an expert on local history and assistant city manager, Tim Turner is all about Barnesville. For the past 10 years, he has been all about Buggy Days as well, having taken over as chairman of the event for Dick Esco.

He is retiring from that position after this year’s festival. The chamber board of directors will have its hands full finding a replacement. [Full Story »] 

Update from SRE 4 p.m. Wednesday:


SRE’s linemen have now joined forces with 81 additional linemen and contractors from North Carolina and Indiana co-ops as well as Utilicon and Harper’s Tree Service. Outages are down to 6621 as of 3:30 p.m. and crews will work into the night to restore as many possible. With crews totaling 106 linemen and personnel, SRE hopes to restore power for the vast majority of its members by Thursday but advise some members will likely remain without power into Friday.

The number of EMC customers without power statewide is 187,000, down from 550,000 at the peak of Tropical Storm Irma. Georgia’s co-ops are being assisted by crews from 14 states as of today but may increase in the days ahead.

WEDNESDAY MORNING UPDATES:

From mayor Peter Banks:

About 6:30 a.m., our employees got the last home's power restored after 41 straight hours of grueling work in sometimes hazardous conditions. Their dedication is nothing short of magnificent. Say a prayer of thanksgiving for each of them.

From Erin Cook:

Five additional crews from Lumbee, NC joined SRE’s restoration efforts this morning. Outage numbers are down to 7109. The breakdown by county is: Bibb – 506; Coweta – 12; Crawford – 117; Lamar – 2165; Meriwether – 815; Monroe – 966; Pike – 1632; Spalding – 321; Upson – 575.

We anticipate making significant progress throughout our entire territory today but some outages will remain through tomorrow. Twelve more lineman are scheduled to arrive from Indiana today.

From Dr. Jute Wilson at 12:19 p.m. Tuesday:

In light of power outages throughout the county and in two of our schools, Lamar County Schools will be closed to students and staff Wednesday, Sept 13. Athletic teams may practice at the discretion of principals and coaches. We hope all are safe from the storm and will contact you with plans for Thursday through email, social media, and the all call system.

Gordon State College has also canceled classes for Wednesday.

St. George's Episcopal School in Milner will be open as usual Wednesday.

From Erin Cook, Southern Rivers Energy at 11 a.m.:

Crews have been working all across our system since before daylight assessing damage and making progress. Power has been restored to approximately 1247 members but there is still have a long way to go with 11,867 still out. Five additional crews bringing a total 26 extra linemen are on the way from North Carolina to assist in restoration efforts as soon as they can get here today with 12 more linemen from Indiana scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning.

Members with a medical situation requiring a constant power supply are encouraged to make other arrangements in the event that it takes multiple days to fully restore power.

Crews are assessing damage in each county and should have a better idea of about how long full restoration will take. At least six broken poles have been reported so far, each of which takes several hours to replace. The help of the additional crews will definitely expedite progress but with roughly 70 percent of the system down, it will still take some time.

As of 10 a.m. today the total number of EMC (electric membership cooperatives) members without power across the state was 428,000 and Georgia Power reported 870,000 or roughly half of the residential customers.

Work will continue around the clock in an effort to restore everyone as quickly as possible.
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From Holly Crawford at Georgia Power at 11:30 a.m.:

Georgia Power damage assessment teams are currently out in communities across the state evaluating widespread destruction from Hurricane Irma as part of the company’s first phase of the restoration process. Georgia Power must wait until conditions are safe for crews to begin power restoration and additional heavy rain or high winds may impact efforts. Additional challenges faced today include downed trees, blocked roads and bridges that must inspected by the state following flooding. The company advises customers that they could experience extended outages for days or weeks due to the vast damage from the storm and that regional and statewide restoration estimates will be available as soon as assessment is completed.

There are nearly 770,000 Georgia Power customers currently without power.

More than 8,500 cases of individual damage or trouble (including broken poles and lines) the company is working to repair.

Damage and outages are widespread and across the state with the hurricane impacting service to customers around Savannah, Columbus, Metro Atlanta and beyond.

From Erin Cook, SRE:

More than 80 percent of our members (12,391) are currently without power from #HurricaneIrma across Bibb, Crawford, Lamar, Meriwether, Monroe, Pike, Spalding and Upson counties.

Crews have been working steadily on restoration efforts since yesterday afternoon and all through the night. We ask for your patience as we temporarily suspend work due to unsafe conditions for our linemen. Our dispatch and rehab team are currently assessing damage and once the storm leaves affected areas, we will continue power restoration efforts as soon as conditions are safe to do so and our crews have rested. The safety of our linemen is our top priority.

We appreciate your patience and ask you to please call the outage hotline at 1-866-244-4890 to report your outages.

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Meanwhile, Irma has picked up speed and the track continues to trend westward. There is some clearing in southeast Georgia which is headed this way. The worst should be over by dark with a rain chance continuing through noon tomorrow. Winds should also diminish overnight.