Power restored in Harlem after Christmas Eve outage

HARLEM, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Harlem has power again after a Christmas Eve power outage that lasted all day due to cold temperatures.

The power outages for Harlem started Christmas Eve morning when the City of Harlem Facebook page posted that a main transformer had blown out.

This prompted the Columbia County Public Safety and Emergency Response Facebook page, to announce the county opening up a warming center at 8:30 a.m. at Patriots Park, with transportation to the warming center for those who needed it.

Throughout the day, the city of Grovetown’s Liberty Park and the Town of Dearing’s community center were also opened up as warming centers to those affected by the widespread power outages throughout the city and unincorporated parts of Columbia and McDuffie Counties, according to the Harlem Fire Department Facebook page.

Harlem Fire also reported two water service interruptions on East Boundary Street and Paschal Street, but Columbia County Water Utility eventually confirmed the services were fixed by mid-afternoon.

They also warned drivers in the area to be cautious as roadways iced over due to standing water, which was eventually treated by Harlem Public Works with salt and sand.

All the while, Georgia Power was working to transport a new transformer from Atlanta to Harlem and restore power that night, according to the City of Harlem Facebook page.

Estimates came in for power being restored at 8 p.m., 10 p.m., to eventually early in the morning after 1 a.m. Christmas morning.

They say Georgia Power did tell them the installation, as well as turning the power back on without causing a power surge, may be a slow process.

The warming centers were eventually closed around 9 p.m., around the time Georgia Power had installed the new transformer.

While it’s unclear as to the exact time when power was completely restored, Columbia County dispatch has confirmed that power was completely restored sometime on Christmas morning.

While the power is on for now: Harlem Fire says for all emergencies call 911, but for non-emergency calls for service, to call Columbia County 911 Dispatch at 706-541-2800.

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