Businesses and residents across the City of Statesboro experienced city wide power outages Wednesday morning. This is believed to be early effects of Hurricane Ian.
The first brief power outage occurred around 10:19 am on Wednesday, September 28, 2022. This was followed by several more brief outages and then one lasting about 20 minutes.
According to Joel Hanner, District Manager for Georgia Power the wind is starting to cause some disruptions.
When asked if this was to be expected for the next 48 hours as the Ian comes through our area he responded that it all depends on the speed and intensity of the wind from the storm.
Power companies may experience a few outages and the it will calm down then follow by more outages. It is really hard to predict how the storm will impact power distribution to our area.
Regardless Haner wants customers to know that Georgia Power Company is ready for the storm as it enters our area.
Two Power Company Serve Bulloch County
Bulloch County is served by two power companies, Georgia Power Company which is part of the Southern Company and Excelsior EMC, which is a member co-operative based in Metter.
Grice Connect has been in contact with both power companies discussing their storm preparation. Both companies stand ready to restore power in the event of outages from Ian.
You can review Georgia Power Companies response to Grice Connect by clicking here.
Excelsior EMC is Ready
According to Howard Porter, Membership Manager at Excelsior EMC, they are readying their fleet of trucks ahead of Hurricane Ian.
Extra poles, wire and other materials are staged. Mutual aid restoration crews, as well as additional right-of-way crews have been contacted and stand ready to assist their crews with restoration if necessary.
THey are praying for minimal impacts but will remain poised until the threat is gone.
Porter encourage folks to download our app from the App Store or Google Play to report and view outages.
Customers can also follow their Facebook page for helpful storm tips and to track storm updates.
