Georgia Power Storm Crews Wrap Up Historic Hurricane Season
Georgia Power crews responded to more than 26 severe weather events that impacted Georgia in a record-breaking hurricane season in 2020.
Image source: T&D World
USA, Georgia: Georgia Power crews responded to more than 26 severe weather events that impacted Georgia in a record-breaking hurricane season in 2020.
The 2020 season ended with Iota, the 30th named storm of the six-month season. This is only the second time National Hurricane Center forecasters have had to use the Greek alphabet for names, with the last time being 2005.
A few weeks ago, Hurricane Zeta caused significant damage to Georgia Power’s distribution system, leading to over 5700 cases of damage and impacting over 822,000 customers. Zeta’s impacts were severe and were exacerbated when a strong cold front with gusty winds quickly followed behind the storm, less than 12 hours later. More than 4000 Georgia Power personnel, with assistance from out-of-state utilities, were mobilised as part of the company’s restoration effort.
“We prepare every year for the Atlantic hurricane season, knowing it will be nothing like the year before. But to say the 2020 season was unique would be an understatement. We responded to 26 storm events, a record number of storms, including Hurricane Zeta,” said David Maske, Georgia Power’s storm centre director. “Through a mutual assistance network, we know that we can assist others and they will be there in return if we need them. Our teams saw first-hand the impact of multiple storms as employees assisted other utilities across the country. We appreciate all that they’ve done this storm season as well as the assistance from other states, and the patience of our customers as we worked to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.”
Just this year, Georgia Power crews responded to more than 22,650 outage events and replaced or repaired 8500 spans of wire — equal to nearly 640 km (400 mi) of power lines.
Georgia Power has responded to eight out-of-state restoration requests this year. The company is able to aid other utilities through a mutual assistance network, which consists of hundreds of utilities from around the country. As part of this partnership, Georgia Power is able to respond and help, providing reinforcements when needed to restore power quickly for other utilities.
Source: T&D World