One year after Hurricane Helene struck Georgia, the anniversary highlights the importance of severe weather preparedness for both Georgia Power and its customers. The storm made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane before entering Georgia as a Category 2, causing significant damage across the state. According to FEMA, 53 counties were declared major disaster sites. Georgia Power described Helene as the most destructive hurricane in its 140-year history, surpassing hurricanes Michael, Irma, and Matthew combined. The company reported restoring power to 1.5 million customers after the storm.
Georgia Power stated that it had anticipated severe impacts from Hurricane Helene more than a week in advance by monitoring weather conditions around the clock. Preparations included mobilizing additional staff from across the industry and pre-positioning restoration workers and equipment such as transformers, poles, cables, and wires near areas expected to be affected.
The response to Helene involved over 20,000 personnel—the largest restoration operation in Georgia Power’s history—including all company crews and teams from more than 35 partner companies from across the United States and Canada. Restoration efforts required repairing or replacing over 11,800 power poles, more than 1,500 miles of power lines, over 5,800 transformers, and addressing upwards of 3,200 trees that impacted lines. In some locations where damage was extensive, crews rebuilt sections of the power grid from scratch.
Despite widespread destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, Georgia Power reported that power was restored to 95% of affected customers within eight days. Over half a million customers saw service return within the first two days following the storm.
To mark the anniversary of Hurricane Helene and share insights on emergency response efforts, Georgia Power has launched “Circuit Cast,” a new podcast available on Apple Podcasts. In its first episode Walt Dukes, distribution manager for Georgia Power reflects on managing restoration work in Augusta during Hurricane Helene: “Click here to listen.”
