My fellow members,
All indications of Hurricane Helene continue to bear down on the Big Bend area of Florida. Recent changes indicate that it may be even more powerful than what was predicted 24 hours ago. They are now projecting that Helene will be a Category 3 Hurricane at landfall. As we have tracked Helene, it appeared that it followed a path like Idalia and Debby. More recent projections show it coming in a little more to the west, but still moving through Colquitt EMC’s system.
Hurricane Helene will become the third hurricane to impact our service territory in the last 13 months. The effects of Hurricane Idalia and Debby are in very recent memory. The outage resulting from Hurricane Idalia lasted some 7+ days. That is almost 8 days of work with approximately 500 personnel performing power restoration. Hurricane Debby was about a 4-5 day event to restore power to all our members. Currently, Helene is on track to be even more powerful of a storm than Idalia and Debby were.
Without being pessimistic, I want to inform our members that hurricane events cause outages, and these outage times can be lengthy regardless of the amount of manpower that we employ. I can assure you, our members, that we have already called for additional manpower to assist us in restoring service that is equivalent to both Idalia and Debby. We have already contracted with the company that provides lodging services for these contract workers. Colquitt EMC can plan, prepare, and procure for these circumstances, but the reality is, that there will be areas within our service territory where there will be lengthy outages. We will be working extended hours as we always do. We will be making every effort to restore service. We will not slow in those efforts until all service is restored. I ask for each member to survey their circumstances and use their best judgment. Recognize that outages are a guarantee with storms like these and the length of them could be challenging.
I want to urge all members to make plans to gather items that they need for their homes/businesses in anticipation of an extended outage. Here are some tips on preparing for power outages and severe weather:
To report a power outage:
- Save the Outage Reporting #: 1-855-293-1804
- Know your CEMC Account Number
- Download the FREE Colquitt EMC Mobile App in the Apple App Store or Google Play
- Check the Outage Map
- Log into your Colquitt EMC Account Portal
Basic Disaster Supplies – For a complete list of items and additional information, please visit Ready.Gov
- Non-perishable food & can opener – at least a 3-day supply of non-perishable food
- Bottled water – at least 3 gallons per person, for drinking & hygiene
- First Aid Kit
- Prescription Medication
- Hygiene items
- Battery-operated radio or hand crank NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries
- Spare batteries
- Flashlights
- Extra clothing
- Extra cash
- Emergency charger for mobile devices
As a reminder, our offices will be closed for business on Friday so that all Colquitt EMC employees can assist in the outage restoration effort. To all our members, we humbly ask for your continued prayers. We are also praying for the health and safety of our personnel and our members. God bless you and we will provide another update this afternoon.
Sincerely,
Danny Nichols
President/CEO