The following is an update of available information related to our community’s recovery from Hurricane Michael:
- There have been no reported fatalities in Thomasville. Additionally, Thomas County Emergency Management reports no fatalities in Thomas County.
- Hundreds of trees are down throughout our community. The fallen trees have caused widespread damage to our electric distribution system, and telecommunications system. While you may not see damage in your immediate area, the damage may be further up the line that feeds your location.
- If your next door neighbors have power and you do not, it is possible that you may have damage to the electrical service that runs from the pole to your home. You must have this repaired by an electrician before services can be restored.
- If your service lines from the pole to your home are down, this is an issue you must address with an electrician before your services can be restored.
- Road clearing was a priority yesterday to provide a clear passage for our community and to aid in the restoration of electrical service. As of yesterday evening, all roads were now clear.
- Public Works will be focused on clearing debris beginning today and in the days ahead. Please use caution when you encounter these work crews.
- Should you encounter barricades across streets or roadways, please do not enter. These barricades are in place due to down power lines. Do not move or drive around the barricades, as they are in place for public safety.
- At the beginning of the storm, our system reported 14,000 or 90% of our electric customers were without power this morning. This number is now down to about 9,000. We expect to make significant progress today.
- At the height of our outage, 22 feeders were open in our electric distribution system. This number is now down to five.
- Mutual aid crews have arrived and are assisting with restoration. As this storm was a multi-state event, there is a shortage of crews available to assist our area. We are grateful for the assistance being provided to our community at this time.
- Yesterday’s priority was to restore the electric and telecommunications services to Archbold Memorial Hospital and other members of our medical community. We have successfully restored these services as of last night.
- Significant damage has occurred to the transmission system, distribution system and substations. We are continuing to assess damages; however, repairs will take several days.
- Our #4 substation that feeds the west side of town (Stewart Road, Old Albany Road, GA 3, Pine Park, etc.) has transmission lines down. We are waiting for MEAG to respond before restorations can begin in this area. We advise customers in this area that their outage may be several more days in duration. This is an estimate only and should not be taken as a guarantee for service restoration.
- Repairs continue at our #7 substation in the Metcalfe area. We are hopeful services will be restored here no later than tomorrow. This is an estimate only and should not be taken as a guarantee for service restoration.
- While all efforts are underway to restore our customers as quickly as possible, this will be a multi-day event. Customers should be prepared to be without power for several days. Outlying areas may be without power for minimally one week.
- Should you receive a response from Tville TextAlert stating that your power has been restored when it is still out of service, please report your outage again at 227-5499 so that we are aware you are without service.
- Outages should only be reported by calling 227-5499 or through Tville TextAlert. Please do not report your outage through our website or through our Facebook page. We can better track outages by using our outage hotline.
- When calling in outages, please report as much information as possible. It will help our crews to know if there are lines down, broken poles or trees that are down before responding.
- City of Thomasville staff is unable to provide an update to customers on their individual outage or estimate a time frame for restoration. This applies to both online, telephone or in person inquiries.
- If you or someone in your home requires an uninterrupted power supply, please understand that we cannot respond to your individual outage. You will need to take the steps necessary to relocate to an area that will provide you with the power supply needed for your condition.
- Solid waste residential collection schedules have been altered due to Hurricane Michael.
- Thursday residential customers will be collected Friday, October 12, 2018.
- Friday residential customers will be collected Saturday, October 13, 2018.
- Thomas County customers (Meigs, Pavo, Barwick, & Boston) that are serviced on Wednesday will have their garbage collected on Saturday, October 13, 2018.
- Thomas County customers serviced on Thursday will be collected on Friday, October 12, 2018.
- Solid waste commercial collection schedules have also been altered due to Hurricane Michael.
- Thursday commercial customers will be collected Friday, October 12, 2018.
- Friday commercial customers will be collected Saturday, October 13, 2018.
- Saturday commercial customers will be collected as scheduled.
- As a reminder, yard trash debris has no specifically scheduled day for pickup. However, we ask our customers to please follow these guidelines for yard trash disposal:
- Debris cannot be longer than 6 feet in length.
- Do not mix construction materials, household waste, or appliances with vegetation.
- Do not block sewer drains or place debris into roadways if all is possible.
- Do not pile debris under any overhead obstruction or near property that can be damaged (wires, low hanging limbs, mailboxes, pipes, etc.).
The City’s Administrative Offices are now open but we are working with a very small staff, as many members of Team Thomasville our actively assisting in our community’s recover. For this reason, we ask our customers to refrain from coming in to our Administrative Offices or the Energy Control Center to inquire about their individual outage.