...blame the mistakes on the weather. Say, there is going to be lots of mistakes in Georgia for the next few days.
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Storm Knocks Out Power to Thousands
By James Pilcher
Associated Press Writer
Sunday, Jan. 23, 2000; 2:55 p.m. EST
ATLANTA –– Rain and freezing temperatures spread a coat of ice
across parts of Georgia on Sunday, knocking out electrical service to
more than a half-million customers.
Many of those households and businesses could be without power until at
least Tuesday as crews struggle over slippery roads to reach downed lines
and ice-coated tree limbs continue to snap, pulling down more.
"This is the worst storm since Hurricane Opal came through in 1996, and
it took six days to get power fully restored for that one," said Georgia
Power spokeswoman Becky Blaylock. "If it keeps raining and it freezes
again ... we could be looking at more people without power. We're in for
a long haul."
Snow and freezing rain also fell in parts of the southern Appalachians, and
locally heavy rain fell across coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas as
the storm pushed eastward and out to sea.
The rain had been forecast to end late Saturday in Georgia but was still
falling Sunday afternoon. Temperatures in the Atlanta area didn't warm
above freezing until the middle of the day.
Ice accumulated a half-inch thick on trees in parts of northern Georgia,
and the weight of the ice on power lines pulled down utility poles.
More than 340,000 home and business customers of Georgia Power lost
service statewide, 290,000 of them in the metropolitan Atlanta area, Ms.
Blaylock said. At least 175,000 customers of electric membership
corporations also were blacked out.
Hundreds of utility repair crews were put to work.
"It's just the sheer volume and massive nature of the problem that makes
us go from one spot to the next to the next. We fix one, and another tree
breaks, and causes another outage," said Pat Kerley of the Jackson
Electric Membership Corp.
Fallen branches and power lines closed about 20 roads in northern
Georgia, State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Vicki
Gavalas said.
"If my neighborhood is any indication, they're snapping like matchsticks,"
she said.
Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport remained open, but many flights
were delayed or canceled as crews tried to de-ice the planes.
Late Saturday, a U.S. Airways jet that had landed at North Carolina's
Charlotte-Douglas International Airport slid onto a grassy area as it turned
onto a taxiway. No injuries were reported.
In central Tennessee, where 3.5 inches of snow fell Saturday, a de-icing
truck nicked the wing of a Northwest Airlines DC-9 at Nashville
International Airport. No one was injured, said Northwest spokeswoman
Mary Beth Schubert.
Parts of South Carolina got up to 6 inches of snow late Saturday, and
traffic on parts of Interstate 85 came to a standstill in several spots
because of slippery pavement and accidents.
© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press
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