Hurricane Helene Impacts Southeast

Hurricane Helene is a storm that many Georgians will remember for years. After making landfall on Thursday, September 26, Helene tore through the southeast, bringing 140 mph winds and massive flooding.

While the storm curved more eastward than initially predicted, Tri-County EMC saw impacts of the historic storm across its system. Tri-County’s outages peaked around 8 AM on September 27, when approximately 5,200 meters lost power, affecting members in Jones, Baldwin, Putnam, Twiggs, and Wilkinson Counties. Damage included broken poles, downed power lines, and damaged fiber, causing internet outages for Tri-CoGo subscribers. 32 Tri-County linemen and contractor crews from Helton Electrical Services, Pike Electric, and Georgia Right-of-Way got to work as soon as conditions were safe. By 11:30 PM that night, nearly all outages on the cooperative’s system had been restored. 

“The Tri-County EMC service area is fortunate to have received minor damage compared to the widespread devastation in parts of Georgia and North Carolina,” said CEO Ray Grinberg. “At peak, Georgia EMC reported 435,000 outages statewide, with some systems at or near 100% out.” 

The cooperative model promotes “Cooperation Among Cooperatives”, meaning that co-ops work together when local, statewide, or national disasters strike. On September 28, Tri-County sent a south district line crew to Little Ocmulgee EMC in Dublin and a north district line crew to Altamaha EMC in Lyons, where they further assisted with storm restoration efforts. Crews continued swapping until work was complete and systems were completely restored.

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