Nearly 575,000 power customers in Georgia are still without power following the devastating impacts of Hurricane and Tropical Storm Helene, according to power-outage tracker poweroutage.us.
That's out of the nearly 5 million customers tracked in the state of Georgia.
In terms of power availability after Hurricane Helene, it's a tale of the eastern and western sides of the Peach State.
Across Georgia, the areas still grappling with power outages are almost all on the east side of the state, which was ravaged most by the so-called "dirty side" of the storm.
In a press release from Sunday, Georgia Power says "Hurricane Helene was the most destructive hurricane in its history damaging infrastructure across the state." Because of that, it has complicated the ability to get lights turned back on for roughly 425,000 of its customers.
In some Central Georgia counties, nearly 100% of customers are without power roughly four days after the storm, especially areas hit hardest by the east side of the storm like Montgomery, Treutlen and Wheeler Counties.
Here's a look at the continuing power outages in Central Georgia as of Monday morning, along with a look at how the rest of the state stands in the aftermath of Helene striking the state.
Power outages in Central Georgia:
Over 90% out of power:
- Montgomery: 99.36% outage - 1,713 customers out; 1,724 customers tracked
- Treutlen: 99.24% outage - 1,442 customers out; 1,453 customers tracked
- Wheeler: 97.43% outage - 796 customers out; 817 customers tracked
- Telfair: 96.47% outage - 3,362 customers out; 3,485 customers trackers
Under 90% without power:
- Ben Hill: 78.6% outage - 2,706 customers out; 3,440 customers tracked
- Johnson: 76.46% outage - 3,756 customers out; 4,912 customers tracked
- Washington: 57.07% outage - 4,829 customers out; 8,462 customers tracked
- Irwin: 50.69% outage - 3,173 customers out; 6,259 customers tracked
Under 50% without power:
- Laurens: 34.88% outage - 5,373 customers out; 15,406 customers tracked
- Dodge: 29.64% outage - 1,114 customers out; 3,758 customers tracked
- Wilcox: 11.91% outage - 751 customers out; 6,304 customers tracked
- Hancock: 11.33% outage -809 customers out; 7,142 customers tracked
- Bleckley: 5.99% outage - 181 customers out; 3,022 customers tracked
- Wilkinson: 5.61% outage - 147 customers out; 2,619 customers tracked
In an interview with 13WMAZ, Georgia Power spokesperson John Kraft says they expect most Central Georgia counties to get their power restored by Wednesday night at 11 p.m. — but it could be sooner than that.
However, some outages also have to do with smaller Electric membership cooperatives, which have fewer resources than Georgia Power.
Other notable outages in Georgia
Some larger metropolitan areas in Georgia — such as Augusta and Valdosta — are still grappling with massive power outages in the aftermath of Helene.
Lowndes, which is where Valdosta is located, still has 83% of its electrical customers without power. That's a total of 48,714 customers without power.
Richmond County, which is where Augusta is located, also has nearly 83% of their power customers unable to turn the lights on. Out of 101,815 customers tracked, 84,330 customers are still without power after Helene struck the area.
While Savannah did not suffer a direct hit, 36.09% of its power customers still are without power. That accounts for 59,359 customers.
What comes next for getting the lights back on?
Georgia Power, which provides power to the most Georgians, says that over 5,000 power poles were either damaged or completely destroyed and they need to replace roughly 425 miles of wires, according to their initial damage estimates.
They say over 500 transformers need to be replaced and there are over 1,500 trees on power lines.
In their press release Sunday, the company says they've mobilized 15,000 people to help them get power back on. They say that is more than their response to any other major hurricanes that have struck the state, including Michael, Irma and Zeta.