EPB says nearly all outages resolved following Monday’s storms

EPB lineman working on restoring power off of Pineville Road.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- After Monday’s storms, local power companies have had to undergo extensive repair to our grid.

EPB says at the height of the storm, over 4,500 customers lost power, primarily between the river and the Georgia state line in Chattanooga.

Roughly 260 power poles have to be replaced due to the damage caused by severe winds up to 80 miles per hour.

They say if it wasn’t for the Smart Grid, over 11,000 customers would have lost power.

EPB spokesperson Sophie Moore said, “Trees are the number one cause of outages. So trees will fall on power lines. They will break power poles and other infrastructure. Our crews then have to get out there, cut down the trees and remove any vegetation. Then we have a different crew that comes out to reconstruct the power pole and power lines, and then another crew has to come out and energize those power lines, so it’s a big operation.>\”

The vast majority of those outages have been restored, with full restoration expected by Tuesday night.