Powerline crews arrive for extended stay in Augusta

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Big trees being no match for big winds and it’s boom…boom…out go the lights, and the frustration grows.

“The bad thing is nobody from local assistance, the government, or anything has been by to tell us anything. I called to report the lines down, all they did was notated it. Nobody has been out,” said Tim Marsh.

This massive, massive, mangled mess of power lines, transformers and trees is just one of many such cases, scenes like this are all over town.

“Georgia Power has a heck of a job to do to get all these lines back up,” said Scott Hixon.

People are describing Augusta as a weather-created war zone, but here comes the reinforcements…

“We’re moving resources and setting up staging areas just like this all over this region to be able to restore power as quickly and safely as possible,” said Kenny Bridges East Region Executive for Georgia Power

The James Brown Arena parking lot is now a camp for hundreds of power line workers with places to sleep and eat, heavy equipment starting to roll, but this will not be a quick fix.

“We are self-sufficient, we’re going to set this city up and run it and we’re going to work as quickly as we can twenty-four hours, seven days a week, till we restore power to this area,” said Bridges.

“Sounds good, send them this way,” says Hixon.

The people and equipment have arrived, but they have their work cut out for them.

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