Alabama Power restores electricity to thousands, working on rest overnight
Alabama Power crews work to restore power near Wedowee. (Jacki-Lyn Lowry / Alabama NewsCenter)
Alabama Power crews have been restoring power to areas of the state affected by Tropical Storm Irma with hopes of the remaining customers back on early Wednesday.
At 5 p.m., Alabama Power said it had 6,200 customers without power statewide with most of them in the Phenix City and Eufaula areas.
Line crews have been working around the clock to get power back on where the winds from the former hurricane knocked down trees and lines.
Challenges with access have slowed restoration in some areas.
Alabama Power’s sister company Georgia Power has requested assistance. Crews in the neighboring state have restored hundreds of thousands of customers in the past 24 hours, but more than 600,000 are still without power this afternoon.
Although the effect on Alabama was not as severe as some had feared, Hurricane Irma was a significant weather event for Georgia and was much more damaging.
Pam Boyd, Power Delivery services general manager for Alabama Power, compared the devastation to the tornadoes that ripped through Alabama in 2011.
“I see this as their April 27,” Boyd said. “I remember being on that call, making that ask for the industry to back us up – and they did. Today we focus on restoring our customers and then it’s our time to support in a big way.”
Georgia Power and Alabama Power are Southern Company operating companies. Alabama Power officials are hopeful they can begin responding to the request for assistance in Georgia after the company’s own customers are restored.
Alabama Power crews continue restoration efforts in the wake of Tropical Storm Irma from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
