Sunday afternoon crash left many without electricity

When two cars collided on U.S. 84 Sunday afternoon electricity to every home in Grady County was cut. Some homes were out for just a few minutes while others were in the dark for more than three hours.
Shortly before 4 p.m., the accident happened at the intersection of U.S. 84 and Hwy. 112. A 17-year-old girl from Whigham driving a 2006 Ford Fusion with a 13-year-old boy riding as a passenger was traveling west on 84. A 31-year-old Cairo man driving a 1993 Honda Civic was at the stop sign on Hwy. 112 when he pulled out in front of the oncoming Fusion, according to Cairo Police. The impact of the collision pushed the Fusion onto a guy wire attached to a utility pole, causing the Fusion to overturn. Luckily, no one required transportation to a hospital for treatment, according to the police report.
The force of the crash, however, broke both the top of the wooden utility pole and the guy wire, which flipped up onto Grady EMC’s line. With the pole broken, power was disrupted to the two utilities that serve Grady County, the city of Cairo and Grady EMC, and all of their customers. Georgia Power was able to make switches remotely that allowed about 2,000 city of Cairo customers to have their power restored in less than seven minutes. Georgia Power then had to make other switches manually, which meant the rest of the city of Cairo’s customers were out until 5:19 p.m, according to Rod Prince, energy services director for the city.
The majority of Grady EMC customers affected had their power restored quickly also, according to Donnie Prince, marketing director for Grady EMC. Prince says crews from Georgia Power, which operates the integrated transmission system for the state, had to make alterations before all of EMC’s power could be reestablished. He says all of their customers were back on line by 7:30 p.m.