One year after Hurricane Helene struck Georgia, Georgia Power is reflecting on the storm’s impact and the company’s response. Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane before entering Georgia as a Category 2 storm, causing significant destruction throughout the state. According to the company, “With 53 counties declared major disaster sites by FEMA, Helene became the most destructive hurricane in Georgia Power’s 140-year history — causing more damage than hurricanes Michael, Irma, and Matthew combined. Ultimately, Georgia Power restored 1.5 million total customer outages following the storm.”
Georgia Power stated that it had anticipated severe damage from Helene more than a week in advance by monitoring weather conditions around the clock. The company prepared for the event by mobilizing additional staff from across the industry and positioning restoration workers, equipment, and supplies near areas expected to be affected.
The restoration effort was described as the largest in company history. “For Helene, the company mobilized its largest restoration operation in its history – 20,000+ personnel, including every Georgia Power crew and teams from 35+ assisting partner companies across the U.S. and Canada, worked tirelessly to restore power and rebuild critical infrastructure,” Georgia Power said. Crews repaired or replaced over 11,800 power poles, more than 1,500 miles of power lines, upwards of 5,800 transformers, and addressed over 3,200 trees that impacted lines. In some areas with severe damage, portions of the power grid were rebuilt entirely.
Despite widespread outages following Helene’s passage through Georgia, “95% of impacted customers had power restored within 8 days, with 523,000+ restored within the first 48 hours,” according to Georgia Power.
To mark the anniversary of Hurricane Helene and discuss lessons learned from managing large-scale restoration efforts like those in Augusta after the storm, Georgia Power has launched a new podcast called Circuit Cast. The inaugural episode features Walt Dukes, distribution manager for Georgia Power.
