EPB operator O’Fair Brooks, left, and EPB lineman Charles Sales replace a utility pole near the intersection of Mountain View Avenue, and Crest Drive after a severe storm uprooted trees and damaged area homes.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry/Chattanooga Times Free PressWe in Chattanooga – and others in nearby and distant parts of our country – have been painfully and expensively affected by weather extremes in recent months.
There have been intense storms and tornadoes over large sections of the United States.
In the Chattanooga area, many still are counting the cost of the damage to their homes and other buildings, as well as to trees.
High-dollar repairs are already under way. The costs surely will be reflected in rising insurance premiums and expenses to local government, and there will be many unremunerated personal losses as well.
While it obviously will be impossible to tally up with certainty the full cost of local weather damage, our Electric Power Board, whose lines were heavily damaged by wind and falling trees, is seeking a 5 percent increase in power rates, effective July 1. The utility had approximately $30 million in losses related to recent storms.