VALDOSTA — Lowndes County and Valdosta continued cleanups and repairs Friday in the wake of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irma.

The once-monster storm, which barreled through South Georgia Monday, brought tropical storm force winds (39-73 miles per hour) and several inches of rain to South Georgia, according to the National Weather Service office in Tallahassee, Fla.

Irma brought sustained winds of 36 mph to Valdosta, with the strongest gust (62 mph) recorded at Moody AFB, according to weather service numbers. Rainfall at Moody totaled 3.53 inches during the storm.

Valdosta Regional Airport weather service monitoring equipment went down during the early hours of Monday as the winds increased.

Power crews continued around-the-clock work to restore electrical service. Georgia Power was down to 435 customers in Valdosta without power Friday and expected 95 percent of service statewide to be restored, said John Kraft, a company spokesman. About 200 Georgia Power personnel were at work in the Lowndes County area, he said.

Colquitt Electrical Membership Corporation, which provides service mainly to rural areas across Berrien, Brooks, Colquitt, Cook, Lowndes, Tift and Worth counties, was down to 4,950 powerless customers Friday, down from 51,000 earlier in the week, said Sonya Aldridge, Colquitt EMC spokeswoman. About 1,000 of those were in Lowndes, she said.

Crews from Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, Pennyrile Electric and Mitchell EMC are helping Colquitt EMC, Aldridge said.

Altogether, about 1,470 customers in Lowndes County were without power, said Paige Dukes, public information officer for the county.

She said one of the biggest problems is people trying to move downed power lines on their own.

Dukes said a number of groups and individuals have volunteered to help with such things as cleanup, and people wishing for help should call Lowndes County Emergency Management to be connected with volunteers.

Within the City of Valdosta, Police Chief Brian Childress said Friday he was not aware of any closed streets.

“There are street lights that are still out,” he said, “spread across the city. People need to be careful.”

He praised city workers and Georgia Power for quickly jumping on the street light situation.

 

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.