Returning residents report downed-wires; Safety stressed as final restorations are being made

As of 5:30 p.m. Friday, Savannah Electric continues to receive a small number of downed-wire calls as customers return to the area. These are typically “service wires” serving individual homes. The company advises customers to use extreme caution in clearing debris that may conceal downed power lines. Report such problems immediately to Savannah Electric or police and stay clear of the area.

Savannah Electric has restored power to nearly all of its customers impacted by Hurricane Floyd, however, the large-scale evacuation has presented new challenges such as the delayed reporting of certain individual outages. Current estimates show less than 50 customers without power as work crews continue to repair the most isolated trouble areas.

All large-scale restorations were completed Wednesday and Thursday. The heaviest damage was concentrated in Chatham County with moderate damage in Effingham County. Comparatively little damage was experienced in Bryan County.

Customers still without power are asked to call the Outage Hotline at 1-800-390-2834 if they have not done so today. The Hotline is the fastest and easiest way to report power outages, automatically entering the customer’s report into the power restoration system.

Customers should be aware that the service entrance cable that connects to the side of homes and businesses belongs to them. Without touching this equipment, look to see if it appears damaged. If it is damaged, customers must contact a private electrician to make repairs before Savannah Electric can restore power to that location.

Savannah Electric officially closed its Storm Restoration Command Center at 3 p.m. Friday, however, work crews and support personnel remain on duty.