Power restored to 800,000 Georgians after Zeta, restoration to continue through Sunday

ATLANTA - Power is slowly being restored to Georgians after Zeta tore through the state early Thursday morning.

At one point, about 2 million were left in the dark. As of 5:30 p.m. Sunday, power was restored to almost 800,000 customers.

On Sunday evening, it was reported that around 10,000 Georgia power customers were without power.

Georgia Power reports that some people could be without power for days as crews take on the daunting task of replacing about 4,200 power poles damaged during the storm. Line crews from Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee came into the state on Thursday to assist with restoration, the Georgia EMCs report.

“This storm caused an incredible amount of damage across the state that we are working as quickly and safely as possible to assess,” said David Maske, Georgia Power Storm Center manager. “Multiple storms impacting the Southeast have strained assistance resources usually available to us, but our crews are working around the clock to get the lights back on. We appreciate our customers’ patience and their support in the coming days.”

Georgia Power also said a text message sent to customers Thursday night stating the restoration date was going to be Sunday was incorrect. Officials said they expect 95% of power to be restored by Sunday, but the majority of customers will see power sooner rather than later.

Georgia Power said the damage seen is similar to that from 2018's Hurricane Michael that includes broken poles, damaged transformers, and numerous spans of wire down. Crews have been working almost non-stop since the tropical-storm-force winds moved out of the area. Residents are reminded to not approach downed wires and to call 911 immediately. 

Power officials said their efforts continue to be hampered by down trees and said trees continue to fall from oversaturated grounds and continued high winds.

Georgia Power customers can follow outages on the company's online outage map.

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