Jeff Sheehan, an East Cobb marketing and social media pro, took this photo of a downed utility pole and trees on Sewell Mill Road Thursday morning, as high winds brought down power lines, trees and other debris all over metro Atlanta.
Cobb DOT is saying that downed trees and power lines are at more than 350 locations in the county, and they’re asking people not to travel unless its necessary as crews work to clear the roads.
Traffic lights are out in many places, and hundreds of thousands of Cobb and metro Atlanta residents are without power, affecting schools, businesses and other activities.
Sustained winds of 40-50 mph swept through the area in the early-morning hours, just before daybreak, along with rain showers, the remnants of Hurricane Zeta, which hit the Louisiana Gulf Coast Wednesday afternoon.
Cobb government offices and services began on a delayed schedule at 10 a.m., including early voting that continues through Friday. But those openings depend on whether there’s power at a location, and here’s the notice we’re getting now:
Cobb Elections currently has workers surveying their 11 advance voting locations to see which ones may have power or internet issues. They will open sites that are available as close to 10 a.m. as possible. Check cobbelections.org and the wait times list to see which sites are available. Open sites will have times listed, sites not available will be in gray.
Cobb libraries are closed for the rest of Thursday, and those branches that have reopened since July will resume their normal operating hours on Friday.
Police, fire and emergency services, Cobb DOT and other crews are responding to hundreds of calls for cleanup. Here’s the county update around 10 a.m.:
From Cobb DOT:
344 tree down calls
260 traffic signals out or damaged
125 roads remain closedFrom Cobb Fire and Emergency Services:
15 rescue calls – 13 to rescue people from houses hit by trees, 2 in cars hit by trees
2 people transported to the hospital with injuries
We don’t have any specifics on roads yet but will update here; Sheehan said there’s widespread debris like the photo above where he’s ventured out in East Cobb.
At 11:45 a.m., Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said more than 280 homes have been struck by falling trees.
Only essential county personnel are reporting to work today, he said, and he asked Cobb residents to consider Thursday a “snow day.”
“It’s important right now that you take all the necessary precautions,” he said in a video message. “Stay home, and if you are home and need our help we can respond.”
Periodical updates are being provided on the county website.
As for power outages, here’s an outage map from Georgia Power showing where power is still out, and the estimated number of customers without electricity.
Several thousand East Cobb customers of Georgia Power area still without electricity as of 11 a.m., but there aren’t any estimates being provided as of now for when power may be restored to those areas.
If you’re a Cobb EMC customer, here’s an outage map that shows several thousand customers also without power, but no estimates are available yet.
Send us information about conditions in your area, and photos to share, if it’s safe for you to do so: editor@eastcobbnews.com.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
