One year after Hurricane Helene struck Georgia, the storm’s impact continues to influence severe weather preparedness for Georgia Power and its customers. When Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane before entering Georgia as a Category 2 storm, it left widespread devastation across the state. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declared 53 counties major disaster sites, making Helene the most destructive hurricane in Georgia Power’s 140-year history. The damage from Helene surpassed that of hurricanes Michael, Irma, and Matthew combined.
Georgia Power restored power to a total of 1.5 million customers following the storm. The company monitors weather conditions and threats to the power grid around the clock and had anticipated significant damage from Helene more than a week before landfall. Early preparations included mobilizing extra staff from across the industry and pre-positioning restoration workers, equipment, and supplies such as transformers, poles, cables, wires, and other materials near areas expected to be affected.
For Hurricane Helene, Georgia Power organized its largest restoration operation ever. More than 20,000 personnel participated in the response effort. This included every Georgia Power crew along with teams from over 35 partner companies across the United States and Canada. They worked to restore power and rebuild essential infrastructure by repairing or replacing over 11,800 power poles, more than 1,500 miles of power lines, upwards of 5,800 transformers, and addressing over 3,200 trees that impacted lines. In some locations where damage was extensive, crews had to rebuild sections of the power grid entirely.
The company reported that despite the extent of destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, it was able to restore service to 95% of affected customers within eight days. More than 523,000 customers had their electricity restored within the first two days after the storm.
To mark the anniversary of Hurricane Helene and highlight ongoing preparedness efforts, Georgia Power has introduced a new podcast called Circuit Cast on Apple Podcasts. In its first episode, Walt Dukes—distribution manager for Georgia Power—discusses his experience managing restoration efforts in Augusta during Hurricane Helene.
