Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company (OG&E) crews are quickly and safely restoring power two days after they were deployed to Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall on the Florida coastline as a Category 4 hurricane, bringing rain and damaging wind to surrounding states and leaving more than 4 million people without power across the South, including Georgia.
OG&E crews arrived safely in Georgia on Friday and began work in Atlanta’s east metro area – Lithonia, Collinsville, and Stonecrest – after heavy flooding and high winds affected the state. Restoration personnel are focused on repairing broken power poles while tree trimming crews are helping clear downed trees and branches from the community.
The team has been working 16-hour shifts to restore power to customers while navigating extensive tree damage, persisting flooding conditions, and many road closures.
“The devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene make our crews work all the more critical,” said Chad Guthrie, OG&E Director of Distribution Construction. “With hundreds of thousands of people without power, it was important our crews restore power as soon as the conditions were safe to do so. As of Saturday mid-morning, approximately 540,000 customers remained impacted by the storm in Georgia.”
Georgia Power, the state’s largest electric company and subsidiary of Southern Company, requested support ahead of Hurricane Helene, and OG&E deployed on Thursday in anticipation of widespread outages across the state.
“We’re grateful to our crews who stepped in swiftly to help restore power to the countless impacted by this powerful hurricane,” said Andrea Dennis, OG&E Vice President of Transmission & Distribution Operations. “They were prepared to provide their support and expertise, and I commend their willingness to help step in even in challenging conditions.”
Mutual assistance crews can be deployed for up to 14 days. If more assistance is needed, OG&E may rotate in additional crews. Other OG&E crews and restoration personnel will remain in place across the company’s service area in Oklahoma and western Arkansas to monitor and maintain service for customers.
OG&E’s last deployment for mutual assistance was in mid-September when teams helped with restoration efforts in Louisiana following widespread damage caused by Hurricane Francine.