VALDOSTA — With hurricane season approaching and the chances of severe storms causing power outages, Georgia Power is pointing customers to its online, real-time outage map to track outages and estimated restoration times.

Georgia Power’s outage map has been live for about two years, and Jason Manley, south region vice president, said the site is a “handy tool” for anyone to see what is happening throughout the state.

“It gives you a whole state view,” said Manley. “You’ll see some diamonds (on the map) that are spread across the state and represent outages. You can zoom in or tap those outages and it will tell you how many customers are involved and an estimated restoration time.”

The system collects outage data in real time, said Manley. Georgia Power uses electronic meters that communicate with its home office and reports outages.

“As soon as the information comes in it shows on the website,” said Manley.

Information on the site is updated automatically every 10 minutes. At 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, the site showed 22 active outages throughout the state that affected 114 customers, including a Valdosta outage on Griffin Avenue near John Street that affected less than five people.

“You can zoom down to a street level to see outages in your neighborhood and our estimate of when the lights will come back on,” said Manley. “You can also turn on the weather, and it may show a system moving through the state that might lead to outages if there is a severe storm.”

Manley said customers are also using the site to report outages instead of calling the company’s outage hotline and then returning to the site to see when the power will be restored.

Offering an online map of power outages begs the question: How do I check it when my power is out?

“That’s a great question,” said Manley. “You can get to the site on a smartphone or tablet. You’ll have to have a cell provider.”

Georgia Power’s outage map can be found at outagemap.georgiapower.com. The company’s outage hotline is also available at 1-800-891-0938.

Adam Floyd is a crime reporter at the Valdosta Daily Times.