Over the weekend Bainbridge and Decatur County, along with surrounding areas, saw rough patches of weather. Many residents lost power and had trees blocking the roads.

Area manager Fred Rudbeck said Georgia Power is typically ready for storms and prepared to be at the forefront of the damage, but they were not expecting this weekend’s storm to be quite so severe.

Rudbeck said initially 1,400-1,500 customers lost power during Saturday’s storm, and power outages continued during Sunday’s weather.

Linemen saw broken trees, broken poles, and several trees that had fallen on transformers and brought the lines down. Some of the transformers suffered major damage, but the linemen worked throughout the day and into the night and continued to work on Monday to make sure everything was back up to par.

Rudbeck knows many were without power for long periods of time, but said the amount of time it can take to regain power varies depending on the issue. A lot of the time, urban areas where the repair trucks can get through easily take a shorter amount of time to restore power than a rural area, he said.

It also depends on if the power lines are underground or freestanding. Georgia Power works on both types of lines, but in situations where there is trouble underground, the fix can be much more involved timewise.

The best way to determine how long restoration may take is to use Georgia Power’s outage alerts, Rudbeck said.

“It’s one of the best tools customers can use,” he said. “It usually provides them with an estimated restoration time.”

Rudbeck also suggested customers follow Georgia Power on Twitter and Facebook for updates on power outages and other electrical issues that may be happening in their area.

He reminds all customers to not go near any low hanging or live wires if they see them in the road or in their yard. In addition, with all of the tree limbs, he asks that everyone be cautious because there may be live wires entangled in the limb. Lastly, he asks for everyone to be mindful of the linemen while they are out there working to restore power.