My fellow members,
Colquitt EMC continues to work diligently on restoring power to our membership. We have been working on this storm and its aftermath for one week. At its peak, we had 67,000 meters without power, and as of this update, we are down to 20,500 meters without power. Many of these meters are in Lowndes County with significant amounts in Berrien and Brooks County as well. At Colquitt EMC, we try to deploy our crews in a manner that is equal to the number of outages and work on a county-by-county basis. We then adjust those crew numbers based on changes in the number of meters that remain. Here are the numbers currently working across our three districts.
Moultrie (Colquitt, Brook & Worth Counties) – 19 line crews and 11 right-of-way crews
Valdosta (Lowndes & Brooks Counties) – 37 line crews and 26 right-of-way crews
Tifton (Tift, Cook, Berrien & Worth Counties) – 34 line crews and 11 right-of-way crews
As I have mentioned, we are now a week into outage restoration from Hurricane Helene. I am sure most of you have seen some news regarding Helene’s damage that it has dealt across our region. Across the southeastern part of the United States, the damage has been widespread and horribly surprising. At the time of this update. I believe there are more than 200 deaths. We have many who are missing because of this storm and still have millions without electric service.
In addition to our working personnel, there are many other groups whose assistance is vital to our success. The state of Georgia and local road crews have been vital in helping clear roads so we can access areas where we need to work. Georgia Department of Transportation has also helped clear these areas and help direct traffic where work is being performed. I also want to commend our first responders: state and local police, sheriff’s departments, fire departments, and EMS. These groups have been invaluable and crucial through this restoration process, and we would not be able to do our job as effectively without each of them.
We recognize the frustration many of you feel as we enter another day of outages due to Hurricane Helene. We want nothing more than to have your service restored as quickly and safely as possible. We are committed to this task, and we will continue to work until we have restored power to all. We once again thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I pray for our employees every day because I am a member as well. I know if we are all patient and work together, we will soon be successful in returning service to all our members.
Sincerely,
Danny Nichols
President/CEO