Georgia Power says some customers could be without power until Sunday night

ATLANTA — Georgia Power says some customers could be without power until Sunday night after Tropical Storm Zeta knocked down trees and power lines and caused widespread damage.

The company said they have restored power to nearly 490,000 customers across the state. Another 168,000 are still without power, as of Friday afternoon.

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“The company expects power to be restored to 95% of customers impacted by Hurricane Zeta by Sunday night,” officials said in a statement Thursday night. “Customers in the hardest hit areas should plan ahead for the potential of extended outages, possibly days, due to vast damage from the storm.”

Spokesperson Allison Gregorie said Friday that some customers should get power back sooner.

“We do expect the majority of customers who receive power to be back on today or tomorrow,” Gregorie said. “We appreciate their patience through this.”

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Officials said crews are working around the clock to restore power, but the damage is comparable to the damage seen after Hurricane Michael hit in 2018.

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“Damage includes broken poles, damaged transformers and numerous spans of wire down,” officials said. “Teams are also experiencing challenges including downed trees and roads blocked that must be cleared to enter certain areas.”

Channel 2′s Tom Regan talked to officials with Georgia Power, who said they have had to repair or replace over 4,000 power poles and power lines so far.

Before crews can repair them, they have to remove downed trees and limbs, which often takes a lot of time.

The company has called in outside contract crews to help.

Bryan Eastman said his power went off at 4:30 a.m. Thursday and is still out.

“It’s tough,” Eastman said. You kind of forget when you walk into rooms, still clicking switches on."

Thomas talked to student Alex Chen, who invited her friend Eva over to power up her phone and laptop.

“I wasn’t able to do any homework yesterday, because there wasn’t any power, and school was canceled too,” Eva Brown said.

“All the kids in my grade, they’re like at everyone else’s house that has power,” Chen said.

Zeta lashed north Georgia with heavy wind and rain early Thursday morning. At least three people were killed when trees fell on their homes.

A couple in their 20s died after a tree fell on their house in Buford. A 22-year-old man died after a tree crushed his mobile home in Coweta County. Three other people in that home, including a child, survived.

2 killed after tree falls on house in Gwinnett County

Cox Media Group