By Steve Byerly
Published: Sep. 25, 2024 at 4:29 PM EDT|Updated: 17 hours ago
HURRICANE HELENE: Latest updates on the storm — 24/7
- Emergency relief: How to find locations offering help
- Free food: Where to get it across the CSRA
- What’s open? Gas stations, restaurants and grocery stores
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Just when things seemed to be looking better for some Augustans without power, the goalposts moved.
After the grid was heavily damaged by Hurricane Helene, Georgia Power had been telling folks electric service should be restored to 95% of Augusta by Saturday.
Now the projected date is Oct. 14.
MORE FROM NEWS 12:
- How linemen are getting resources during storm recovery
- Tent cities: where linemen eat, sleep during storm cleanup
The storm on Friday morning knocked out power to most of the region, but great progress has been made in the past couple of days, lifting the spirits of many,
On Wednesday morning, 39% of the city had electricity.
That had risen to 69% by Thursday afternoon, Augusta leaders said at a news conference.
Augusta Commission member Sean Frantom says by Oct. 10, “95%” of Georgia Power customers are expected to have power restored.
But “the sheer amount of damage to our grid” meant the projected date had to be extended for many, Mayor Garnett Johnson said.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Will Helene set back any plans for the election in Georgia?
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger offers an update on the ability of the state to hold an election in November.
6 days after Helene, here’s the situation in Augusta
If you haven’t been out of your house since Hurricane Helene hit the CSRA last Friday, here’s what you should know.
Some post-storm curfews loosened, including Augusta’s
Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson said Thursday the city is keeping the curfew it imposed after Hurricane Helene, but will extend the hours people can be out on the streets.
Augusta boil order could be lifted in ‘hours, not days’
Augusta’s mayor said Thursday the situation is “greatly improving” as water service is restored to more customers, but the end of the outage always seems out of reach for some.
Despite the discouraging outlook for the remaining Augusta customers, Georgia Power said Thursday it had restored electric service to more 90% of all customers impacted by Helene, the most destructive hurricane in the company’s history.
More than 20,000 personnel are involved in the restoration effort, the utility said. Nearly half of them are in the Augusta area, judging from figures Augusta leaders gave during a news conference Thursday afternoon.
For Georgia Power, the extensive destruction of Hurricane Helene includes:
- More than 8,300 power poles must be repaired or replaced
- About 1,000 miles of wire was damaged.
- More than 1,600 transformers were damaged
- More than 3,200 trees fell on power lines.
PHOTO GALLERY:
Power remains out for about 162,000 customers of electrical cooperatives in Georgia, according to the Georgia Electric Membership Corp.
Georgia Transmission reports there are currently 26 substations and approximately 20 high-voltage transmission lines out of service. From the peak damage at the height of the storm, 80% of co-op transmission has now been restored.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Electric cars can be used to power home devices during emergencies
Aside from Teslas, most electric vehicles have some version of vehicle-to-load or bi-directional charging. Some vehicles also have a hidden plug under the seat.
View the outage map for Georgia electric cooperatives
For those who aren't served by Georgia Power, here's a look at outages in the Peach State.
View the Georgia Power outage map
Hurricane Helene continues impacting Georgia and has caused widespread outages. Crews are responding to outages and restoring power where it’s safe to do so as quickly as possible.
Jefferson Energy, a co-op that serves much of the CSRA, said it’s addressing 18,857 outages but has restored power to 43% of our members.
The co-op has 16 out of our 26 substations in working condition.
The counties experiencing outages include Columbia, Burke, Emanuel, Glascock, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, McDuffie, Washington, Warren and Richmond.
Georgia’s electric cooperatives say Helene was their most destructive storm ever.
“The extent of the damage seen is unprecedented, including hundreds of trees on transmission lines and toppled towers,” said Georgia Electric Membership Corp., which represents the state’s member-owned electric cooperatives.
Among the challenges:
- Several co-ops are rebuilding as much as 100% of their distribution system.
- Co-ops have more than doubled their workforce with thousands of additional linemen and additional support personnel in response to Hurricane Helene. Many of the additional staff are being brought from out of state.
- Co-ops report historically high numbers of downed trees and power poles, surpassing previous records.
In South Carolina
Dominion Energy crews continue to work around the clock to make repairs.
Dominion spokesperson Paul Fischer says 90% of those still without power live in the western portion of the state. He mentioned Abbeville, Aiken, Edgefield, Saluda, McCormick and Greenwood counties.
“In those more rural and heavily wooded areas, we have seen severe, significant impacts,” says Fischer. “Thousands of trees down, thousands of poles down. Countless spans of wire. The work to repair in the areas so significantly impacted by this storm, we are rebuilding our grid from the ground up.”
More than 90% of Dominion Energy’s customers in the western region of South Carolina were without power at the peak. Now service has been restored to 60% of those customers.
As of late Thursday afternoon, Dominion Energy says they have restored power for 393,000 customers, but approximately 45,000 remain in the dark.
North Augusta Mayor Briton Williams says 6,689 homes in the city are still without power, down from 14,000 nearly a week ago.
Dominion has restored power to 15 of the 20 substation breakers but has more work ahead on other breakers in the grid backbone. Once these breakers are up and running, crews can address outages at the level where power goes into neighborhoods.
Other statistics from Williams:
- There are 350 poles down in North Augusta, and it takes a crew of four people four hours to replace a pole.
- There are 700 spans of wire down and it takes the hours of work per span.
- There are 225 transformers to replace, and it takes two hours per transformer.
“I have said in every interview and any chance I get that the citizens of North Augusta are showing amazing resolve and an incredible positive attitude during this challenging time,” he said. “I ask that you continue to keep that mindset which is necessary as we work to bring power back to each citizen. We
Here’s an update on the status of repairs in local counties served by Dominion:
- Aiken: Active restoration in progress. Dominion estimates 95% of customers will be restored by October 9 by 11 p.m.
- Allendale: More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing.
- Bamberg: More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing.
- Barnwell: More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing.
- Edgefield: Active restoration in progress. Dominion estimates 95% of customers will be restored by October 9 by 11 p.m.
- McCormick: Active restoration in progress.
- Orangeburg: More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing.
- Saluda: Active restoration in progress.
Meanwhile, South Carolina electric cooperatives like Aiken Electric have now restored power to more than 280,000 consumers statewide. Up to 144,000 co-op members remain without power.
Some co-op customers tell News 12 they’ve been informed it could be weeks before their power is back on.
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