A BMW on Signal Mountain Boulevard is seen Tuesday morning crushed by a tree that fell during heavy overnight rain storms.Damage Wrap-Up from Tropical Storm LeeEPB• About $2.5 million in damage• 59,000 of 170,000 customers lost power initially• Entire service area affected• 700 workers helped restore grid• 2,334 different locations on the grid were damaged in some way• More than 111 poles lost• More than 107 transformers damagedSource: EPBVolunteer Electric Cooperative• Under $1 million in damage• 7,000 of 109,000 customers without power• Affected areas included Bradley, Hamilton, Pickett, Meigs, Cumberland, Fentress, Polk, Putnam and Rhea counties• 50 linemen worked to fix damage• 12 utility poles lostSource: VECNorth Georgia Electric Membership Corp.• Cost unknown• 21,000 of 99,000 total customers lost power• Affected areas included Catoosa, Chattooga, Walker, Whitfield, Floyd, Gordon and Murray counties• 200 workers needed for repairs• 630 points of repair• 29 broken poles• 20 damaged transformersSource: North Georgia EMCArea storm costs• Damage — More than $3.5 million• Customers without power — 87,000 of 378,000 in the tri-state region• Repair workers — 950• Points of repair — 3,000• Lost utility poles — More than 152• Damaged transformers — More than 127
Tropical Storm Lee closed schools, damaged homes and streets and cut off power for more than 87,000 area homes and businesses, but that may not be enough to qualify the region for federal disaster assistance, local officials say.
Most of the storm’s roughly $3.5 million in destruction was concentrated in Hamilton County and, more specifically, was limited to downed power lines and poles, said Bill Tittle, chief of Hamilton County emergency management.
“To be honest, it surprised us,” Tittle said. “We worked most of the weekend getting ready for the rain, but it was the wind that blew so many of those trees over.”
Most area schools opened late or not at all on Tuesday, and some stayed closed as parents and teachers found themselves without electricity.