EMA to open shelter, 8,400 without power

There have been more than 171 calls to the Emergency 911 Center since the storm hit with reports of trees in the roads, power lines down and other weather-related incidents. The Pike County Sheriff’s Office is encouraging citizens to stay off the roads even though the temperature will rise above freezing because of the possibility of trees falling and ice accumulation on roadways. There have been 171 calls for service made to the pike county 911 center since the winter storm hit Pike County. ”This number does not reflect the high volume of calls that have been made requesting weather information,” said Maj. David Neal. “A large number of calls have also been made to road department personnel and reported in person by citizens. The current estimates are that Pike County Emergency Services and road department employees have assisted and/or responded to approximately 300 incidents across the county.”Pike County and the American Red Cross have opened the senior citizens center , 9716 highway 19, to any persons needing shelter during the power outages. There will be personnel at that location to help anyone needing assistance. Citizens can call 567-3857 for further information.The Pike County EMA and the American Red Cross have opened a shelter for anyone without power at the senior center on Highway 19 in Zebulon. Cots will be delivered by this evening. Bring anything you would need to stay the night, including medications and comfort items. No pets allowed. More details as they become available. SRE THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE:As of 11:00 a.m. over 8400 of our members remain without power. We have an additional 41 workers helping with restoration efforts now and 30 more are on the way from Alabama. The safety of our linemen and those who have come to our aid continues to be our top priority. The ice is beginning to melt which will help us make progress but the damage is extensive and repairs are time consuming. Please remember that there is a method to restoring power safely and effectively. There is no point in repairing a tap line at a residence when the substation that feeds it is out. View a diagram of the process on the Storm Center page of our website: http://www.southernriversenergy.com/Storm%20Center/4777_Restore_Power.pdfWe expect to work through Friday making repairs, possibly into Saturday. The Civic Center in Barnesville and the Pike County Senior Center on Hwy 19 in Zebulon have been designated emergency shelters and will remain open as needed for anyone in need of relief. We cannot guarantee a time frame in which your power will be restored so please, we urge you to make other arrangements if you have any conditions that require a constant supply of electricity.We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work toward safely restoring power for all our members. Please continue to use the outage hotline for outage reporting: 1-866-244-4890 but if you have already reported your outage, PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE CALLING. This ice storm has moved across the southeast and our call center is now overwhelmed with handling outage reports from numerous cooperatives. If you have already reported your outage, we have it in the system and will get to it as soon as possible. We will continue updating our website, Facebook and Twitter throughout the duration of this event. Outages can be tracked in real-time with our live outage viewer: http://68.208.12.169:82/.As of 6:45 a.m. nearly 9000 of our members are without power. We do not yet know the extent of the damage but will be able to make a better assessment after daylight. Once crews have taken inventory of the damage to the system we will make our best estimate as to how long we anticipate restoration efforts will take. We have 7 additional crews to help with restoration efforts for a total of approximately 35 extra workers and have asked for more from any co-op that can spare them. The safety of our linemen and those who have come to our aid is our top priority as they work in these dangerous conditions to restore power. It will be difficult to make progress until the temperature gets above freezing and the ice begins to melt off the trees. The lines are being torn down by falling trees and limbs as fast as our crews can put them up. Please be patient; this is not a quick process. Also keep in mind that there is a method to restoring power safely and effectively. There is no point in repairing a tap line at a residence when the substation that feeds it is out. This diagram explains the process in detail. We will continue updating our website, Facebook and Twitter throughout the duration of this event. Outages can be tracked in real-time with our live outage viewer: http://68.208.12.169:82/We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work toward safely restoring power for all our members. Please continue to use the outage hotline for outage reporting: 1-866-244-4890.