Published Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Lightning causes problems

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Newnan Times-Herald

The storms that blew through Coweta County Monday night didn't dump much rain, but they contained plenty of lightning and caused a number of electrical problems.

Approximately 2,500 customers of Coweta-Fayette EMC experienced power outages during the night. Georgia Power and Newnan Utilities reported minor outages in Coweta.

EMC responded to several scattered outages, ranging from eastern Fayette County, through Coweta and into Heard County, according to Communications Coordinator Amy Lott. Circuits were knocked out in Fayetteville and in Tyrone. Outages in Coweta were in the Blackjack, Mt. Carmel Road and Macedonia Road areas, Lott said. Extra crews were called in to help restore service.

Several transformers were damaged by lightning, and two substations were affected by trees that fell on power lines, Lott said. Power was restored to most customers between midnight and 1 a.m. Tuesday, she said.

Georgia Power had about 12,000 outages in northern Georgia Monday night, but only about 35 in the Coweta area, said spokesman Jeff Wilson. Some customers were without power for as much as five hours.

Power surges related to storms were responsible for two separate incidents in which people had to be rescued from elevators.

The first occurred around 9 a.m. Monday, said Todd Moore, deputy chief of the Coweta County Fire Department.

Two people were trapped in an elevator at the Summit Healthplex on Highway 34 East. Fire department crews used an attic ladder to remove the victims from the elevator. One was experiencing shortness of breath and was evaluated on the scene by a physician, Moore said.

Around 5 p.m. Monday, a woman was trapped in the elevator at 42 Main St. in Senoia. Firefighters from the rescue unit were able to use their elevator key to open the door, and the trapped female was able to exit the elevator, Moore said.

Either lightning or a power surge damaged the air conditioning units at the Coweta Administration Building at 22 East Broad St. One unit was back in service around 2 p.m. Tuesday while work continued on the other unit.

High winds brought down multiple trees in the county Monday night. Several trees were down in the Bear Creek and Ga. Hwy. 54 area in south Coweta, and trees and power lines were down in the Welcome community in west Coweta, Moore said. Fire department crews were clearing trees from roadways and providing safety barriers around the downed power lines.

The Coweta 911 center received 13 reports of trees down, six reports of lightning strikes, and six reports of power lines down, said Jay Jones, Coweta emergency management director. Most of the calls came in between 6 and 10 p.m.

There were no reports of major damage or fires from the lightning.

However, said Jones, there was a report from two women who were talking in the kitchen of a home on East Broad Street when lightning struck. The women were not injured, but both said they "felt like something went through them," Jones said. They were checked out by Coweta Emergency Medical Service and found to be OK.

As for rainfall, it was widely scattered. There are three Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow Network stations in Coweta. They recorded .33 of an inch, .08 of an inch, and .05 of an inch for the 24-hour period ending at 7 a.m. Tuesday. On Gordon Road in south Coweta, a gauge recorded about an inch of rain.