High winds wreaked havoc in Putnam County last week, causing significant damage, man hours, and inconvenience.
Local authorities and electric companies reported downed trees that caused power, cell phone, and internet outages, as well as several damaged vehicles on Thursday and Friday.
Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell and Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said a fallen tree knocked down cable lines on State Route 16/Monticello Highway near the Gregory Bridge, which resulted in a loss of internet and cell phone service for most of the city of Eatonton and cell phone service for customers of all carriers throughout the county.
“The city had a few trees down, but there were no big issues,” Cardwell said.
“Putnam County had 11 incidents of trees down on roadways, all in one night,” Sills added. “I had to call in off-duty deputies to work extra hours to direct traffic and keep people away from downed power lines.”
The Southern Company’s Greg Tyson said there was “only a handful of outages” affecting Georgia Power customers scattered around the county.
Efforts to reach a Tri-County EMC spokesperson were unsuccessful, but the corporation’s Facebook page reported that 1,000 meters were without power in Putnam County.
The frequent wind gusts of 20 to more than 30 mph caused three separate tree-related vehicle accidents, according to Sills.
On Long Shoals Road, a tree fell on some power lines and threw one of the electric insulators through the windshield of a car. The BMW X5 was being driven by a Watkinsville woman and her two sons, ages five and 10, were also in the car, he said.
All three received minor injuries from the broken glass and were taken by ambulance to St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment, Sills said.
“They weren’t harmed by the hot wires that were down on the road, but it was a major issue there for several hours,” he said.
Trees also fell across the windshields of a 2014 GMC Acadia traveling on State Route 44 near New Phoenix Road, and on a 2003 Ford Ranger pickup traveling on Pea Ridge Road, he reported. There were no injuries in those accidents and firefighters assisted in removing the trees.