Crews immediately on the scene after Friday’s snow. Photo courtesy of BRMEMC.

BLUE RIDGE, Ga. – Fannin County was not spared the effects of Winter Storm Benji as the storm made its way northeast across the United States. Nationally, this winter storm was noted for record amounts of snowfall in many areas, and estimates have come in that as many as 300,000 homes and businesses lost power nationwide.

Many residents in Fannin County are entering their third day without power due to Winter Storm Benji, and crews with local power companies have been working around the clock to restore power to these citizens.

Fannin County reached the height of power outages on Saturday, Dec. 9. Tri-State Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) reported between 1,000 to 1,200 members affected. Tri-State EMC has approximately 19,000 meters in their service area. Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corporation (BRMEMC) services approximately 49,000 meters and reported roughly 14,000 members affected by outages.

Many residents, like Robert Moe, of Blue Ridge, were prepared. Moe stated, “We lost power about 3:30 a.m. Saturday. We put in a back-up generator three years ago. Great decision. Hope to have power back before our propane tank runs out.”

“If we run out of propane, we have kerosene and propane heaters,” Moe discussed of his preparedness. “You have to prepare in advance and not wait until you have problems to try to find answers.”

Lulu Lewis, a Morganton resident, has been without power since approximately 11 a.m. Friday morning. Lewis explained how her household is making it through: ” We have a generator for lights, water, TV, refrigerator and freezer. For heat, we have a wood cooking stove.”

Although the past few days have been difficult without power, some residents have not lost their sense of humor. Ken Burdette, of Blue Ridge, describes losing power twice: “Lost power Friday … came back on around midnight. Heard the power guys holler, ‘Just drag it off.’ Power went off again around 9 a.m. Saturday morning and has been dark ever since.”

Broken power poles and downed lines as a result of Winter Storm Benji. Photo courtesy of BRMEMC.

Burdette says it’s not all bad, and that he’s “rather enjoying candle light dinners with Vienna sausage and cold red wine.” He does admit though, “The hot tub has lost its appeal.”

David Lewis, IT Manager with Tri-State EMC, spoke of the difficulties in dealing with power outages of this nature: “With these outages, it’s a little different than outages because of wind or tornadoes. It was a lot more sporadic.”

Lewis spoke of the causes saying, “It’s mainly from downed trees, pines.” He explained that snow of this nature is very heavy. The weight of the snow can cause downed lines, but trees breaking under the snow’s weight is the main source for the outages.

He talked of crews working around the clock to restore power: “Not only is there a threat from the downed lines, but you also have to deal with snow and ice in reaching some of these areas, and some of these areas can be pretty remote. It’s a pretty dangerous situation.”

As of 12:20 a.m. Monday, Dec. 11, BRMEMC reported that 2,455 members were currently without power and stated via Facebook, “Crews are still working to restore all power and will not stop until all power is back on.”

Fannin County Emergency Management Agency Director Robert Graham stated that there are no shelters open in Fannin County at this time. A temporary shelter was opened in Union County for residents without power or heat.

With another arctic blast headed our way on Tuesday, Dec. 12, and temperatures expected to dip into the teens, residents are hoping that power can be restored to all of Fannin County before the freezing temperatures hit.

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