Hurricane Helene - Okefenoke REMC

Monday, October 7

Tuesday, October 1 @ 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday, October 1, @ 8:30 a.m.

Hurricane Helene Day Five: We have 28 members without power this morning. That number is going to go up and down a bit as the crews work to address those outages. In the process, an outage we didn't know of, because a feed was without power, may pop up. Crews have rolled out and are working to get everything cleaned up. Our System Operators in dispatch, along with Member Service Representatives, will be following up on all the service orders created over the past few days from messages left on the outage system. Some of you may receive phone calls verifying your power has been restored. #ThankAlineworker

We have been spotlighting some of our staff, community members and businesses who have been supporting our restoration efforts behind the scenes making sure everyone is nourished and cared for. Today we feature our Kingsland crew, along with Sydnee Miller, who have kept our Camden County based crews going. Special thanks goes to Cindy Altman and Honey Buns Cafe & Catering for being a food supplier, and to Wainright & Son for their responsiveness to our needs, from a last minute request to backup refrigeration.. #ittakesavillage

Monday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m.

As we wind down day four, we have 124 members who are still without power. Several crews are making a push to get everyone back on this evening, but as explained in an earlier post, the amount of damage related to individual outages is extensive, and there will likely be a few that need to be finished up tomorrow.

It has been a herculean effort by our own OREMC crews and the many helping hands from our mutual aid. In just four days we have gone from 85% of our system without power down to less than one percent.

Again we are appreciative of those who have brought in food to help feed everyone. There have been inquires as to what else is needed . . .at this point they are good. All have had a hearty dinner and once they wrap up tonight, have hotel rooms to go back to for hot showers, much needed rest and be ready to roll out again in the morning.

Monday, September 30 at 2:45 p.m.

830 members are still without power as of 2:45 p.m., Monday, September 30. Crews are spread out across the service area addressing outages like the one in the video. It is an example of the time and effort needed to remove debris, repair and re-energize a line, in this case, to one home. Multiply that by the 102 outages that remain and it helps answer the question, "Why does it take so long to restore power?" That being said, they continue to make steady progress. #ThankALineworker

Monday, September 30 at 8:30 a.m.

Our crews have rolled out this Monday morning to continue the restoration efforts. As of 8:30 a.m. we have 1,954 still without power.

Sunday, September 29 at 7:45 p.m.

We have 2,800 who remain without power. The graphic below depicts the restoration process, and that for the most part, we are down to tap lines:

▪️ Those outages that only affect a few members at a time

▪️ We have nearly 200 of them remaining.

▪️ Crews will work late into the evening, and roll out again early tomorrow

▪️ There have been some comments by members about not seeing their outages on the map. We realize reporting outages through this storm has been complicated by cell service communication issues, but you should always call to report your outage from a phone listed on your account. That is how we locate you.

Our offices will be closed to the public until Wednesday, October 2. Collections and disconnects have been suspended until further notice.

Sunday, September 29 @ 4 p.m.

Key messages from our 3:30 p.m. update:

Transmission issues have been fixed. All substations are energized.
30,000 members restored. 5,000 remain without power.
Outage map is real time and reflects all reported outages
When will all power be restored? Those who are still without power should be prepared for another day or two. The outages that remain are numerous, impact fewer people per outage, have significant damage and take time to remove debris, repair and energize each one.
Please don’t try to remove limbs or trees from lines yourself and stay away from downed lines.
Collections and disconnects remain suspended until further notice.

Sunday, September 29 @ 8:30 a.m.

Steady progress are the words of the day. We are down to just over 8,000 members still without power. Crews have rolled out across our Florida and Georgia service area to continue to clear the numerous limbs/trees/poles and broken poles downed by Helene, repair the lines and restore power.

We have two substations still impacted by transmission outages: Point Peter and

Lake Windy. Switching operations are underway to

work to energize circuits out of Lake Windy through system redundancy now that our substations are operational.

Our focus continues to be on the larger outages that impact the greatest number of members. Once those are addressed, we can work our way downline from the main feeder lines. Another progress update will be shared midday.

Saturday, September 28 at 7 p.m.

As the sun begins to set on day two since Hurricane Helene roared through, here is where we stand:

We have 13,300 still without power.
We have restored power to over 22,000 members.
Four substations are still without power due to transmission issues: Lake Windy, Hoboken, Nahunta and Point Peter. As mentioned previously, our engineers are in contact with Georgia Transmission about the status of these transmission line outages.
We have 107 new mutual aid crew members who have arrived from Missouri Electric Co-ops. They will be heading into the field this evening to assist with our restoration efforts.
Crews will work until about midnight and head back at 6 a.m. tomorrow.

Addressing some common questions we are seeing/hearing from you:

PrePay members asking why they are being charged for electricity when they have no power? The system estimates your usage and that is the charge you are seeing, BUT the system will true up/correct itself once we are back on normal operations.
Questions about why crews ride by, move debris and leave without fixing the outage. As mentioned before, crews have to identify where the problems are on a particular line/circuit, how many, and determine what to fix first to restore power to the most members. Repairing a line or transformer in front of one home won’t bring the power back on in that location if the there is a bigger outage down the line feeding multiple locations.
A feed can be another word for a line or circuit coming out of a substation to serve a specific location.
You’ve heard a lot about Georgia vs. Florida as all of our substations are served by Georgia Transmission. None of our substations serving our Florida service area were impacted, however, there have been lots of trees/lines/poles down to remove and then repair. We have our OREMC crews and mutual aid working through our service area.

Saturday, September 28 @ 2 p.m.

Saturday, September 28 at 8 a.m.

Good Morning. Our OREMC and mutual aid crews continue to address system-wide outages. As of this morning we are down to 17,685 members without power. Work will continue throughout the day and evening. Transmission issues persist as 7 of our 9 substations are still without power feeds.

Many ask about substation priorities and when certain areas will come on. The substation outages are addressed by Georgia Transmission, and they are dealing with transmission outages that impact the entire state of Georgia, not just OREMC's substations. Our engineers are in constant contact and have two of the 9 back online.

The other thing to keep in mind is, how power is restored. Circuits and three phase line coming right out of a substation are restored first. If they aren't energized, nothing downline is either. We can't address outages affecting neighborhoods or individual homes until the lines serving them have been restored. The graphic helps explain the process.

We are grateful for the many extra helping hands—160 individuals from seven different organizations and another 100+ expected later day. Our thanks to Asplundh Tree Expert, LLC, Prosource, Kendell Vegetation , Pike Electric , Sumter EMC Pike crews, Osmose and TRC.

Another update on our progress will be posted midday.

Friday, September 27 @ 7 p.m.

Friday, September 27 @ 1 p.m.

OREMC crews and mutual aid have restored power to 7,000 members since daybreak in the wake of Hurricane Helene. The Category 4 hurricane was historic in size and speed of intensification leaving much of the southeast with widespread power outages. Restoration efforts are being slowed due to high voltage transmission outages and communication outages.

What this means and how it impacts OREMC:

Transmission outages are on the high line/tower power lines that deliver electricity to our OREMC distribution system via our 18 substations.
We have 9 substations that are without power due to transmission outages.
- Our engineers are working with Georgia Transmission to identify and work to fix these outages.
- However, there are multiple transmission outages affecting electric utilities across the state of Georgia.
We don’t have a complete picture of the damage to our own distribution system because of the transmission issues.
- In other words, we don’t know what outages, if any, are on our own circuits.
- We won’t know that until the substations come back online.
- We do anticipate that a significant number of members will be restored as each of the substations comes back online.
Crews are working to restore power on outages fed from the circuits of our other nine substations, and will continue to do so throughout the day/evening.
Compounding restoration efforts are communication/cell service outages.
- It may be difficult for you to get through to our Outage Line because of the sheer volume of calls being attempted across a compromised communications network.

We ask for your patience and encourage you to be prepared for a multi-day event. We will continue to share updates as information becomes available.

Friday, September 27 @ 8:30 a.m.

Thursday, September 26 @ 4 p.m.

Helene is expected to make landfall as a CAT 4 in Florida's Big Bend area.
Onset of the storm impacts for OREMC service area is expected between 6 – 9 p.m. Storm duration is 12-14 hours.
This is anticipated to be largely a wind event for us.
Downed tree limbs/trees/wires are expected.
Any outages this evening will be addressed as long as it is safe to do so.
Tornado warning in effect across our OREMC service area this evening
We will be CLOSED to the public on Friday,

Wednesday, September 25 @ 4 p.m.

We are now officially dealing with Hurricane Helene. Some new information from the National Hurricane Center's 2 p.m. update:

The projected path of the storm continues it westward trend, which is good news.
However, the wind field has expanded and is expected to stretch 90 miles off the GA/FL coast.
Predicted rain amounts remain steady at about 3 inches.
Tornado threats in the overnight hours on Thursday remain in place.
NEW expected time of arrival for winds is between 3 – 9 p.m. on Thursday.
The storm’s march over our service area is expected to last 12-14 hours.

Our mutual aid crews will be here and staged tomorrow morning. We have our local Pike, Asplundh and TerraVolt crews, along with an additional 10 crews from North Georgia.

Connections and disconnects will be suspended on Thursday and Friday.
We will likely be closed to the public on Friday, and depending on conditions may close early tomorrow. Conditions will determine our course of action.