UPDATE SOUTHERN RIVERS ENERGY

Crews have been working all across our system since before daylight assessing damage and making progress. Power has been restored to approximately 1247 members but there is still have a long way to go with 11,867 still out. Five additional crews bringing a total 26 extra linemen are on the way from North Carolina to assist in restoration efforts as soon as they can get here today with 12 more linemen from Indiana scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning.

Members with a medical situation requiring a constant power supply are encouraged to make other arrangements in the event that it takes multiple days to fully restore power.

Crews are assessing damage in each county and should have a better idea of about how long full restoration will take. At least six broken poles have been reported so far, each of which takes several hours to replace. The help of the additional crews will definitely expedite progress but with roughly 70 percent of the system down, it will still take some time.

As of 10 a.m. today the total number of EMC (electric membership cooperatives) members without power across the state was 428,000 and Georgia Power reported 870,000 or roughly half of the residential customers.

Work will continue around the clock in an effort to restore everyone as quickly as possible.