Many Remain Without Power in City

A Georgia Power spokesman said about 16,500 people remained without power in the city of Atlanta and adjacent areas late Tuesday afternoon.

Spokesman Jeff Wilson said he couldn't provide a breakdown for Buckhead, but the areas without power included neighborhoods along Wieuca and Powers Ferry roads. By late Tuesday afternoon, crews had not yet arrived to begin removing a downed tree blocking Wieuca Road since early morning. Wilson said 39,000 remained without power in  the Atlanta metro area.

When asked when power might be restored in areas still suffering outages, Wilson said, "we're calling in crews from everywhere, other states."

Late Tuesday afternoon,  two different trees in an apparent chain reaction fell across Wieuca Road near Loridans Drive. One tree hung in the air above the road, and a portion of the second tree blocked the right lane of Wieuca heading toward Roswell Road. Atlanta police arrived to blockade the lane. The second incident of downed trees occurred several blocks west from where a tree fell across Wieuca early Tuesday morning at Whittington Drive.

The Westminster Schools were closed Tuesday after storms knocked out power on the schools' campus. 

Georgia Power told Westminster that it may take one day before power can be restored on campus, according to the school's Web site.

In an unrelated incident, a tree broken at its trunk fell on power lines and blocked Wieuca Road at Whittington, across from the Sarah Smith Elementary Intermediate campus. A resident of the surrounding neighborhood who wouldn't give his name said he had been without power since 11 p.m. Monday. No Georgia Power crews had arrived on the scene by late afternoon. The school was closed because of spring break.

The storms brought heavy rain, wind and hail  Monday night and Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory through 8 p.m. Tuesday for winds form 15-25 mph with gusts of 25 to 35 mph. 

The WSB 24-hour Traffic Center resported West Wesley Drive closed at Habersham Drive because of a blocked tree. A traffic light was flashing at Northside Parkway and West Paces Ferry Road and a light was out at Peachtree Road and Colonial Homes Drive.

MARTA said it had rerouted several bus routes because of storm damage. The routes were 1, 16, 36, 51, 53, 60, 66, and 117. Route 118 was removed from the list at midmorning. Customers should expect delays, MARTA said. For additional information,  contact MARTA Customer Information at 404-848-5000 or visit www.itsmarta.com.

Ga. Power said at midmorning that trees were continuing to fall. Call 911 to report a downed tree or call Ga. Power at 1-888-891-0938.

At 6 a.m. Tuesday, Georgia Power reported on Twitter that it had 180,000 customers without power statewide. In metro Atlanta, 67,000 people were reportedly without power, including Buckhead, where trees were down, according to media reports. Metro area power outages peaked at 140,000 overnight, Ga. Power said. Cable service was also out.

At 8:27 a.m.,  Wilson said 25,000 were without power in the city of Atlanta, and 56,000 in the metro area.

"We making good progress, but there's a lot of trees down that we're having to deal with," he said.