Macon crews react quickly to restore normalcy after Irma

Crews were quick to react as Tropical Storm Irma’s impact began waning across Macon-Bibb County Monday night.

County departments and Georgia Power crews worked overnight and throughout Tuesday removing debris, clearing roads and starting to restore power to more than 55,000 properties.

The number of customers without power was cut to 39,000 by early Tuesday evening.

“We’re asking for people’s patience as our crews clear the roads, collect the large amount of debris on the ground and assist our utilities,” Emergency Management Agency Director Spencer Hawkins said in a statement. “There’s a lot that needs to be done, and we are all working together in this effort.”

Irma caused trees, utility lines and debris to block 102 roads in Bibb, but by early Tuesday evening 62 of those streets had been cleared.

The remaining roads had power lines in the way, so county crews were working with Georgia Power to safely clear them, Macon-Bibb spokesman Chris Floore said.

“Georgia Power worked late (Monday) evening and early (Tuesday) morning assessing, ... trying to get power up safely and quickly,” he said.

Macon-Bibb County received numerous calls since Monday from people about blocked roads, downed trees and other storm-related issues. And the county wants people to continue reporting damage at 478 832-6300.

“We don’t want people to assume that just because a tree has been there for 12 hours that it’s been reported,” Floore said.

There were reports Monday night of 65 trees being knocked over by Irma, but there were more downed trees than that, Floore said.

The county cannot remove trees from private property, but it can pick up trees whose trunks, limbs and branches have been cut in lengths of 4 feet or less if they are placed on the curb. Macon-Bibb can also pick up construction debris that’s moved to the curb.

Macon-Bibb officials did not have an exact number of homes or businesses damaged by Irma. But some people were displaced by the storm, including eight families living in an English Avenue apartment complex after two oak trees fell on their building.

And although the outages, downed power lines and trees were widespread across Bibb, some neighborhoods such as Shirley Hills, as well as those off Vineville, Pierce and Ingleside avenues and Riverside Drive, were among those hit hard.

The storm also caused plenty of traffic lights to either go out or continue flashing.

Macon-Bibb County sent out traffic technicians Tuesday to fix the flashing lights. Some lights will be taken care of after Georgia Power is able to restore power, Floore said.

“We’re starting with major intersections and working backward into neighborhoods,” he said.

The storm not only caused cancellations throughout the county Monday and Tuesday, but it also led to some temporary changes to the bus schedule.

Three bus routes — East Macon, North Highland and Ocmulgee — were modified Tuesday because of unclear roads.

And Wednesday morning, the Macon-Bibb County Transit Authority will see if it is safe to return to a full route schedule, General Manager Dave Golder said.

“We’re going to check them out (Wednesday) morning after crews work all day and see how they stand,” he said.

To stay abreast of the recovery process in Macon-Bibb County, follow Macon-Bibb County EMA on Facebook and Twitter, and visit their website, www.MaconBibb.us/EMA.

This story was originally published September 12, 2017 at 3:09 PM with the headline "Macon crews react quickly to restore normalcy after Irma."