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Amicalola EMC & ETC announce partnership to expand broadband access
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Power Restoration Update – Crews expected to finish by noon
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020 8:30 am – 70 members without power at 29 separate locations
“We expect to be finished by noon.” Very encouraging words for the remaining members without power were spoken this morning at the Amicalola EMC headquarters, in our Dispatch Center. There is still a lot of work to be done, including a section that had up to 10 spans of power lines torn down, but we are optimistic that all members will be restored today, and this could happen by noon unless something unforeseen happens.
After a long hard battle that began with close to 40,000 members out of power, which included 28 circuits being out of service, and is ending after 6 1/2 straight days of very hard work by 350+ outside crew members and dozens of inside employees and a broken pole count exceeding 113, (whew!) we are almost at the end of power restoration following Tropical Storm Zeta.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to finish up what will go down in our history books as one of the most destructive storms and related outages in our 80 year history.
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Power Restoration Update – Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020
We currently have 1,758 Amicalola EMC members without power. These members are separated into 214 different areas. Our broken pole count is now at 113, and we expect that number to rise. It’s important to remember that many of these poles are in remote areas, sometimes in mountainous terrain, and replacing them is labor and time intensive. It’s also important to remember that while there may be no visible indicator of the reason your power is out, it can often be something down the line (of the circuit that supplies electricity to your area) that needs repair.
Today, our crews are working in the following locations and surrounding areas. We continue to be thankful for the clear weather and are expecting to make good progress. Further updates will be given as information becomes available. We thank you for your patience as we continue to battle to restore all power as soon as is safely possible.
Cherokee/Pickens
Waleska
Talona Rd
Burris Rd
Amicalola Church
Amicalola Forest
Steve TateGilmer
Northridge Rd Area
Village Park
Eagle Mtn
Shady Grove
Clear Creek Rd
Tails Creek Ch
Old Clear Creek
Cataula
Buck town
Hills Lake
Dover Chapel
Big Creek
Bates Rd
Rogers Creek
Carson Cove
Big BuckDawson/Lumpkin
Cleave Wright
Prim Rose
Nimble will
Falcon Dr
Buckhorn Tavern
Fawn Dr
Reagon Dr and Antioch -
Tropical Storm Zeta – Update
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Power Restoration Update – Monday, Nov. 2, 11:00 am
Currently we have 4418 members without power. Crews are working in the following areas today:
Pickens/Cherokee
Pleasant Union
Dowda Mill
Hill City
Harmony School
Waleska
Tate
Clayton
Lake Arrowhead
Yellow Creek
Etowah
Westside of Henderson Mtn
Talking RockGilmer
Round Top
Talona
HWY 282
Tails Creek
Burnt Mountain
Cherry Log
Cherry Lake
Fort Mtn
Chatsworth HWY
Conasaga
Big Buck
Rodgers Creek
Rock Crock
Pleasant GroveDawson/Lumpkin
Mill Creek
Siloam Church
Sweet Water Juno
Juno
Etowah
Afton Road
Burnt Mtn
Oak Grove
Ben Higgins
Mill Creek -
Power Restoration Update – Sunday, Nov 1, 2:30 pm
Our service area covers 1100 square miles. We serve primarily in Gilmer, Pickens, north Cherokee, Dawson and Lumpkin counties. Our largest number of meters is in Gilmer, followed by Pickens, Cherokee, Lumpkin and Dawson. We touch on the borders of Bartow, Gordon, Fannin, Murray and Forsyth counties. When outages occur like we are experiencing now, that are so widespread and so destructive, power restoration takes far longer that it does if in one concentrated area.
Next, take our current outage map and visualize it laid over the service area map above, and you will see the outages are spread across our entire service area. We are currently down to 7679 outages, having restored approximately 3000 already today. Our broken pole count is nearing 75. We are working hard to restore all power, just as soon as is safely possible. We thank you for your patience.
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Power Restoration Update for Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020 9:00am
We are currently at 10,208 consumers without power, this is down from a high of approx. 38,000. All our circuits coming out of substations have been restored, which is a big accomplishment, but there are 505 separate locations with power outages. So far, we have found 62 broken poles, but we expect that number to keep rising.
Out of the approx. 10,000 still without power, our estimate is that around 60% of these locations will be restored within the next 24 hours. The balance of the areas will be restored during the following 24-48 hours. This estimated timeline puts restoration for some areas into Tuesday and possibly Wednesday on the hardest hit places. More information on the timeline will be given as soon as it becomes available.
It is important to remember, this is just an estimate. There are many unforeseen things that can happen during power restoration work, that can cause a delay. It is also important to remember that in many areas, these crews are having to cut and remove downed trees, before they can access the area and begin the restoration work.
Here is a listing of the general area crews are currently working in.
County and General Area of Work
Bartow/Cherokee Hwy. 20 / Stamp Creek Road
Cherokee Lake Arrowhead
Cherokee Clayton
Cherokee Reinhardt College Parkway
Dawson/Pickens Yellow Creek
Pickens Bent Tree
Pickens / Gordon West Pickens
Pickens Jasper area
Pickens / Gilmer Roundtop / Old Hwy. 5
Pickens Kent’s Store / Yellow Creek
Cherokee Waleska / Sam Nelson / Rampley Trail
Pickens Talking RockCounty and General Area of Work
Gilmer Blue Ridge Hwy.
Gilmer Hwy. 52 E
Gilmer Roy Road
Gilmer River Lane / Yukon
Gilmer Pleasant Gap
Gilmer Goose Island – 515
Gilmer Gunstock Rd.
Gilmer Floating
Gilmer Rock Creek
Gilmer Big Creek
Gilmer Big Buck
Gilmer Double Knob / Then Tower Road
Gilmer Damage Assessment – Pleasant HillCounty and General Area of Work
Lumpkin Copper Mines
Lumpkin Pumpkin Farm / New Hope / Monument
Lumpkin Auraria Road
Lumpkin Wesley Lee Road
Dawson Mill Creek
Lumpkin Floating
Dawson Hwy. 53 – Atlanta Motorsports
Lumpkin Tobacco Pouch CreekPlease remember to stay away from any downed power outages.
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Outage Restoration Update – October 31, 2020 3:30
We currently have 14,648 members without power. This is down from the 38,000+ that were out of power when the storm passed through early Wednesday morning, October 28. We have crews working in the following areas today. These are both right of way crews and line crews, so its important to remember that downed trees must be cut away and cleared before the line crews can get in to rebuild the power lines.
Hwy. 20 / Stamp Creek Road
Lake Arrowhead
Clayton
R.M. Moore School
Yellow Creek
Bent Tree
Pearl Johnson
Mineral Springs / Salem
Roundtop / Old Hwy. 5
Kent’s Store / Yellow Creek
Darby Road
Blue Ridge Hwy.
Hwy. 52 E
Roy Road
Chatsworth Hwy.
Pleasant Gap
Parker Road
Riverbend
Blackberry Mountain
Floating
Rock Creek
Hwy. 136 – Old Furnace
Turner’s Corner
Pumpkin Farm / New Hope
Auraria Road
Black Mountain Road / Cavender Creek
Mill Creek
Floating
Hwy. 136 / Gold Creek
Hwy. 9 South -
Power restoration update – October 31, 2020
Amicalola EMC crews, along with dozens of crews from contractors and sister EMCs, continue to battle this morning. We are thankful for the clear weather. Currently, we have 19,416 outages at 522 separate locations.
The broken pole count is up to 55 and is still rising. There are still 7 entire circuits down, coming out of substations, but this number is down considerably from the high Thursday morning.
Help has arrived from the following companies FPU, Volunteer, MPS out of Cleveland, TN, Warren REMC, North GA EMC, multiple Pike crews, Treeline Right Of Way crews, Real Tree Right Of Way crews, Holston EMC, Shylan, Charles Wells Right of Way, Planters EMC, Kenergy from Kentucky, Farmers EMC and Asplundh Right of Way. We are very thankful for all the assistance that we have received from all over the southeast.
We ask for your patience as we continue to battle to get our system built back. It may have taken up 80 years to build it, but in a matter of hours we lost 80 percent of our entire service area, and we know we have to replace a minimum of 55 broken poles. We are working hard and never doubt for a minute that all power will be restored as soon as is safely possible. The line crews are highly trained, highly skilled tradesmen and there are safety protocols that must be followed to ensure that everyone gets to go back home healthy and well. We ask that everyone remember our members who are without power and are struggling to get through what is already a very challenging year….and we ask that you also remember our crews who are out working. Many of these men have left their homes states away, to come here to help restore power to our beautiful north Georgia area.
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Power restoration efforts continue – Friday, October 30, 10:00 am Update
We currently have 30133 consumers without power. These outages are widespread across portions of all ten counties we serve. The broken pole count is up to 30.
Outside crews have been called in to assist in our restoration efforts; to date, approx. 22 outside crews have arrived, bringing both manpower and equipment. These crews include line crews and right of way crews and are in addition to the 120+ who are employed full time by Amicalola EMC.
In addition, there are multiple employees working behind the scenes in our Dispatch Center coordinating the restoration efforts for the crews. There are also many working to provide communications and other services, both internal and external, and secure food and lodging for those who have come in to assist.
Crews are being coordinated out of all three of our offices and today’s assignments include the following areas:
Pickens/Cherokee/Dawson Gilmer/Fannin Dawson/Lumpkin
Clayton Community Chatsworth HWY Turner’s Corner
Price Creek/ Burnt Mtn Whitepath Gold Course Jay Bridge
Bent Tree Big Creek Black Mtn,/Cavender Creek
Lake Arrowhead HWY 282 Mill Creek
RYO Area 52 East Auraria Rd.
HWY 5 S Gilmer 515/north
Stamp Creek Roy Road
Yellow Creek Turnip TownWe thank you for your continued patience as we work to restore all power as soon as is safely possible. We know it is frustrating and inconvenient to be without electric service, but this restoration process is a massive undertaking and it is so widespread that is requires substantial manpower and enough time to safely perform all the necessary work.