Chattanooga area escapes worst of deadly storm system that plowed through South


423-362-2531 for reporter.
423-362-2531 for reporter.

Power outages were minor, though widespread across the region, after storms pummeled the Southeast overnight Sunday and early Monday, killing at least 20 people.

Most of the damage was restricted to areas south of the tri-state area, though spotty damage did occur, officials said.

The Associated Press reported heavy storm damage in southern Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina, where victims were trying to pick up the pieces in the wake of a powerful storm system. Fifteen people were killed in South Georgia.

Meanwhile, utility officials in Jackson County, Ala., said the soft ground and strong winds continued to create problems throughout the day Monday.

In Hamilton County early Monday, Electric Power Board power grid maps showed scattered to minimal outages mostly south of Hixson and west of Signal Mountain. Those were steadily repaired throughout the day.

Hamilton County Emergency Services spokeswoman Amy Maxwell said East Ridge got the most wind damage overnight, with some downed trees and power lines.

But otherwise, Maxwell said, Hamilton County escaped the worst of the storm system.

"We called [the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency] this morning and told them we didn't have anything really to report," Maxwell said.

Georgia Power reported more than 200 customers without power in Dade County in the Rising Fawn area early Monday, but power was restored by midday in most locations across its North Georgia service area.

East of Dade County, more outages were reported between Ringgold and Varnell and in Dalton, according to the utility's outage maps. As of 9:30 a.m. Monday, only a handful of customers in Dalton were still without service, while almost 100 Chatsworth customers in Murray County remained in the dark when the day started, maps show. Repairs in most areas were completed by Monday afternoon.

Volunteer Electric Cooperative, which has customers in Bledsoe, Bradley, Cumberland, McMinn, Meigs and Polk counties on the Chattanooga-end of its service area, had most of its outages addressed early in the day.

The utility's outage map just before noon Monday still showed one customer in Cumberland County and one in Hamilton County without power, while more than 40 customers were still without power in Fentress County.

In Northeast Alabama, utility officials said damage and outages were typical of a storm system but nothing out of the ordinary.

Power throughout Jackson and DeKalb counties was restored by daybreak, although wet weather problems lingered for some, officials said.

Sand Mountain Electric Cooperative general manager Mike Simpson said the storms there caused only routine outages and all customers had power back on by Monday morning.

North Alabama Electric Cooperative operations superintendent Richard Ballard said storms knocked out power in one area and an equipment failure knocked out power in another.

"We had some pretty long outages last night," Ballard said. "Some [outages were blamed] on lines down and some on equipment failure."

"We're still having trouble today," Ballard said, referring to the rain- softened ground and wind combining Monday to topple trees onto power lines. Problems would be even worse if most trees hadn't dropped their leaves, he said.

"Now, we're doing pretty good," Ballard said.

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.

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