UPDATE: As of 4:45 p.m., March 23, 9 customers affected by Tuesday evening's storms remain without power, according to EPB.
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UPDATE: As of 6 a.m., March 23, 305 customers affected by Tuesday evening's storms remain without power, according to EPB.
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UPDATE: As of 11 p.m., March 22, 1,132 customers remain without power, according to EPB.
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UPDATE: As of 9:15 p.m., March 22, approximately 1,500 customers remain without power, according to EPB.
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UPDATE: As of 4:45 p.m., March 22, EPB continues to work to restore about 2,866 customers who remain without power.
EPB confirmed on its website most of those customers will have power by the end of the day but a few hundred will likely not receive power until tomorrow morning due to the extent of the damage.
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Previous story:
A severe storm system thrashed the Chattanooga area with high winds and rain Tuesday evening, leaving downed power lines and trees in its wake.
Power outages began to mount between 7 and 8 p.m., especially in western Hamilton County as storms barreled through. At the height of the storm, said EPB spokesman John Pless, about 60,000 customers were without power. The Smart Grid restored power to about 25,000 customers.
As of 4:45 a.m., EPB had restored power to about 52,800 customers as line crews continue to work to restore the power to the remaining 7,200 customers. Most of those customers should have power by the end of the day, but the devastating nature of some of the damage to the electric system will mean that a few hundred customers probably will not have power until tomorrow morning, according to an EPB news release.
EPB left little doubt about the storm's impact, greeting its website visitors with a message stating the storm had caused "massive damage" and disrupted power for many of its customers. An outage map showed significant power losses for Signal Mountain, Hixson, South Chattanooga, Soddy-Daisy, Red Bank and Sale Creek. Harrison suffered moderate outages, while East Chattanooga and Ooltewah only experienced scattered outages.
"We held crews over from the first shift in anticipation of this evening's weather," Pless said as the storm unfolded. "They are responding when possible, rolling as we speak."
Pless urged EPB customers to monitor updates on the EPB of Chattanooga Facebook page, Twitter feed and website. For more information or to report an outage use the Outage Map & Report Outage Page or call 423-648-1EPB (1372).
"We have multiple wires down, multiple trees down across the area," Hamilton County Emergency Service Director Tony Reavley said shortly after 8 p.m.
Mike Partin, spokesman for Sequachee Valley Electric Coop, posted an update on his Facebook page reporting that 1,200 coop members were still without power at 5:30 a.m. CDT.
While Reavley spoke, a stream of weather-related incidents scrolled across the Hamilton County 911 webpage, showing police and fire departments responding to downed wires in Chattanooga, East Ridge and Sale Creek.
In addition to the damage caused by sharp winds, lightning struck a house and set it on fire in the Dallas Bay area, he said.
Reavley said there was no indication a tornado had formed or touched down in Hamilton County.
"It's just the high winds we expected," he said.
The agency planned to begin damage assessments today, Reavley said.
The weather knocked out power outside of Chattanooga as well, with Volunteer Energy Cooperative reporting 3,400 customers had lost power in five counties.
The VEC outage map showed 1,350 of its Polk County customers lost power, while Bradley County suffered 980 outages, according the utility's website. VEC outages in Meigs County reached 500, but nearby McMinn and Rhea outages landed at 256 and 313 customers, respectively.
The Cleveland Utilities website said 163 of its customers had lost power, spread between 14 incidents. Most of those outages occurred west of Dalton Pike in South Cleveland. To the west, a number of outages were reported just south of Georgetown Road. Hail raked the city even as winds pummeled it.
Streetlights were reported out along Dayton Boulevard and Ashland Terrace in the Red Bank area. Traffic lights were also reported out across the area.
In Georgia, Catoosa County, Chickamauga City, Walker County, Whitfield County and Dalton Public schools will operate on a two-hour delay Wednesday. Oakwood Christian Academy will open at 9 a.m.
In Tennessee, Grundy County and Polk County schools will operate on a two-hour delay Wednesday and Marion County, Dayton City and Richard Hardy schools will be closed. Hamilton County Schools are on spring break and Bradley County Schools will be open.
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_tfp.