Crews replace more than 30 broken poles following 4/23 tornado

April left in much the same way it started – with severe storms. Crews responded on Thursday, April 23, to restore electric service following damage from severe weather and three EF-1 tornadoes that tore through George and Greene counties.

One of the worst hit areas was along Rocky Creek Road in George County. Singing River Electric crews were joined by contract crews to untangle and untie existing power lines from broken trees and power poles left scattered.

“It normally would take one month to build this new,” said engineer Clark Rounsaville. He supervised the work on Rocky Creed Road. “To do this in one day is remarkable and speaks to the quality of the personnel.” Being able to reuse the existing power lines greatly helped speed restoration time.

System engineer Tom Davis reported more than 30 broken poles were replaced throughout the system and crews had to replace 75% of the main power lines coming out of Rocky Creek substation as well as 30 spans of 3-phase distribution lines.

For more photos from the restoration, visit SRE’s Facebook page at facebook.com/singingriverelectric.