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Severe pop-up storms in Chattanooga cost EPB $6.8M in one month

Staff File Photo by Seth Carpenter/ Chattanooga Public Works employees clean up debris from fallen trees on Harrison Pike on Monday, June 15, 2026 following a harsh storm that hit Chattanooga the prior day. The storm cost EPB $1.7 million.
Staff File Photo by Seth Carpenter Staff File Photo by Seth Carpenter/ Chattanooga Public Works employees clean up debris from fallen trees on Harrison Pike on Monday, June 15, 2026 following a harsh storm that hit Chattanooga the prior day. The storm cost EPB $1.7 million.

By Times Free Press Staff 5 min read

A string of brief but powerful thunderstorms that have swept over the Chattanooga area over the past month have cost EPB around $6.8 million in repairs.

The four storms led to more than 28,000 power outages lasting five minutes or more as EPB called in crews from outside the region to assist in restoring power.

The local utility’s smart automated grid restored more than 50,000 outages within five minutes during the storms, according to data presented at an EPB board meeting on Friday.

The costliest storm came on June 22 and cost EPB around $2.4 million. Storms on June 14, July 3 and July 10 cost $1.7 million, $2.1 million and $600,000, respectively.

EPB has been able to restore most of the prolonged outages within a day, said CEO David Wade. Storms cost the utility around $12.7 million for the fiscal year ending in June, an unusually high amount, according to EPB officials.