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ZEBULON - A massive storm system came through the state in the early morning hours on Sunday, February 16, 2025.

Straight line winds took out trees and power lines in many places in the county. Power companies had crews in the county helping restore power as soon as the storm was over.

Thousands of customers were without power after the storm came through, and many roads were closed due to the fallen trees and power lines.

It takes a lot of people working together to keep our community safe in a storm like this. Here are those who quietly worked in the background to make things happen.

Fire Department

Public Information Officer (PIO) Anita Neath advised that approximately two dozen fire department personnel responded to the storm.

Members of our fire department “were assigned to apparatus and sectors to check for damage including downed trees, power lines and hazards to the public.”

Neath said that personnel assisted by removing trees from roadways and responding to fire events related to power outages or restoration.

An on-duty firefighter, Kyle Carraway, was logging calls at Pike County’s E911 Center until he was relieved of that duty when Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Jim Totten opened an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at E911 rather than operating out of the building down by Public Works.

E911

Major David Neal from the Pike County Sheriff’s Office said that “911 operators worked hard to ensure that all calls from our citizens were answered and the appropriate resources were dispatched to affected locations.”

There were 50 calls for trees down and other storm related emergencies around the county as a direct result of this storm.

Carraway helped at E911 Dispatch helping dispatch fallen tree calls from 4 a.m. to about 5:30 a.m. with EMA Director Jim Totten taking his place when the EOC was opened. Numerous fire fighters helped clear trees out of roads working in tandem with Pike County Public Works with direction from E911.

The EOC was terminated around noon.

EMA

Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Jim Totten said that Pike was originally under a tornado warning but that was quickly changed to a severe thunderstorm warning. He kept citizens up to date on the storm through posts on Facebook as well as going into the E911 Center to help direct calls about storm damage.

A tornado warning came through at 4:02 a.m. That was quickly changed to a severe thunderstorm warning that blew through the county with high winds causing damage in many places around the county.

Totten said that winds traveling 70 to 75 miles per hour can cause a lot of damage even when no tornado is present. Troup and Butts Counties had strong winds belonging to the same track that came through Pike County. Butts County had a confirmed tornado.

Hwy 19 in North Pike County sustained losses of power poles and numerous power lines brought down by trees. Oxford Circle just outside of the Concord City limits was hit hard as well with a question of whether there was a possible spin up tornado in that area.

Totten monitors Meriwether, Troup, Upson, Lamar, and Spalding Counties as well as Pike and helped out during this storm by being at E911 and dispatching calls to the Fire Department and Public Works from 5:30 a.m. through the end of the storm.

He praised Fire Chief Bobby Wilkerson and fire fighters at the Pike County Fire Department as well as Public Works Director Chris Goodman and employees at Pike County Public Works who have had so much experience dealing with disasters.

Totten said that Goodman and Public Works have worked with fire fighters during past storms and called the cooperation “seamless” as they all worked together to clear the roads. He advised that all roads were opened back up by Monday.

Totten also praised deputies from the Pike County Sheriff's Office for blocking roads with hazards on them to keep the public safe and Zebulon Public Works/Water Department employees for helping cut up trees around Zebulon.

“Things went smoothly because of people with experience working together,” he said.

Public Works

Public Works Director Chris Goodman advised that he, Joe Bigler, and Zack Norwood came in to work about 5 a.m. on Sunday and started taking calls to clear roads. There was no flooding from this storm, but there were 26 roads that had trees down including a lot of power lines and phone lines.

“I appreciate the Fire Department,” he said. “They helped us a lot at Public Works.”

As calls came into E911, EMA Director Totten routed the calls to the Fire Department and Public Works. Goodman said that fire fighters sawed up what they could, and Public Works brought in tractors to move the rest out of road.

He said that Totten was his dispatcher, and that Totten coordinated really well. “We had no idea that it (the storm) was going to hit the way that it did.”

Goodman said that citizens came out to help too. He mentioned a citizen with a skid steer who was out on Fossett Road pushing trees out of the road. “That’s part of what I love about Pike County,” he said. “People will help as much as they can.”

Public Works employees worked until about 2:30 p.m. on Sunday making sure that roads were open so emergency vehicles could get through to Pike citizens if needed. “My main concern was opening up roads for traffic and emergency calls,” he said.

Goodman advised that Public Works was still cleaning up on Monday and that it may take as long as Tuesday and Wednesday to clear debris.

Roads

Here is a list of Pike County roads that sustained damage during the storm. Totten advised that all roads are open at this time.

Most the damage seemed to be north of Hwy 18. Here are the 50 calls that went out during and after the storm.

Pilkenton Road – Molena, 630 Union School Road - Molena , Madden Bridge - Molena, Spring Road at Allen Road - Molena, 566 Hwy 74 - Molena, 598 Old Zebulon Road - Zebulon, Fossett Rd at Hwy 18 - Zebulon, 1017 Gresham Rd - Zebulon, Hwy 18 at Plantation Rd - Zebulon, New Hope Rd at Brazier Rd - Zebulon, 6060 Hwy 19 - Zebulon, 6325 Hwy 19 - Zebulon, 212 Thomaston Street - Zebulon, Hwy 18 at County Farm Road - Zebulon, County Farm Road - Zebulon, Hwy 19 at Cook - Zebulon, Howell Rd at Cook Road - Zebulon, Friendship Circle - Concord, Oxford Circle - Concord - Possible rotation, 3474 Concord Sreet - Concord, 600 Calvary Road - Concord, Hill Street Ext at Hill Street - Concord, 1300 Green Street - Concord, 11471 Hwy 18 - Concord, Flat Shoals at Pedenville - Concord, Owens Street - Concord, 412 Powder Creek - Concord, Hwy 18 at Calvary Road - Concord, W Curtis Road at Strickland - Concord, 3474 Concord Road - Concord, Hwy 362 at Irish Hill - Concord, Turner Road at Concord Road - Concord, 1700 Kings Bridge - Williamson, Reidsboro at Drew Allen - Williamson, Beeks Road at Hollonville Road - Williamson, 341 Williamson Drive - Williamson, Melvin Brown at Chapel Hill - Williamson, Hollonville at Reidsboro - Williamson, 1405 Jonathan Roost Road - Williamson, Hwy 18 at Reidsboro - Williamson, 135 Twin Oaks - Williamson, Brookwood Court - Griffin, Etheridge Mill - Griffin, Chapel Hill at Patton - Griffin – Lot of trees down in this area, Hwy 41 at Shackleford - Griffin, Hwy 19 at Carver Road - Griffin, Hwy 19 at Jones Circle - Griffin, 507 Hemphill Road - Griffin, 13871 Hwy 19 - Griffin, Hwy 19 at Rebecca Circle - Griffin, Hwy 41 at New Hope Road - Milner, River Rd, and the 600 block of Harris Road.

Southern Rivers Energy

Pike County Times spoke with Erin Cook, Manager, Member Services & External Affairs at Southern Rivers Energy (SRE) and was advised of some specifics on the storm. "At the height of outages, approximately 10,000 meters across our nine-county service area lost power," she said.

Cook advised that all SRE crews were called in around 6 AM on Sunday, along with crews from several of our contractors, including Harper’s Tree Service, Sumter Utilities, and Utilicon Services to help restore power.

She also said that once Altamaha EMC, Colquitt EMC, Excelsior EMC, Grady EMC, Ocmulgee EMC, and Sumter EMC's finished restoring power for their members, they sent crews to assist with with SRE's restoration efforts. On Sunday evening, North Georgia's Sumter Utilities sent some additional contract crews to help with SRE's efforts to restore power in this area.

"A total of 50 additional linemen and right-of-way workers assisted SRE crews," Cook said. "Crews worked through the night and all day Monday, stopping only when they had worked the maximum number of hours allowed."

“Sunday morning’s early storms caused significant damage and widespread, extended outages for many of our members. We are extremely proud of and thankful for our line crews, field technicians, office personnel, and Harper’s right-of-way crews for their restoration efforts in the aftermath. While our guys are in the field, an entire team is supporting them behind the scenes, and we appreciate everyone’s hard work,” said Southern Rivers Energy President/CEO, Michael McMillan.

“With the help of our sister co-ops across the state, and dedicated contractors, we were able to restore power ahead of our estimated timeline. Thank you to all the workers who came to our aid, and thank you to our members for being patient and supportive,” McMillan said.

Weather Preparedness

There are many ways to prepare for severe weather. Having a weather radio and a plan of what to do in the case of severe weather is at the top of the list of preparation needs. Outdoor warning sirens and signing up for Code Red Alerts are also good ways to prepare for storms.

Weather radios are affordable and can be obtained both locally and online. These radios carry weather warnings, hazards, and other information from the National Weather Service.

Totten advised that outdoor warning sirens are in many places around the county with plans for the county to obtain more. These warning sirens are placed in areas with concentrated populations who can be warned about weather related incidents as they occur.

Pike has already been approved for four new sirens with placement as follows: one on the water tower in North Pike County, another at the Lifsey Springs Fire Department, one on Beeks Road close to the Whitehorse Subdivision, and another at the Williamson Fire Station.

Totten recommends signing up for Code Red severe thunderstorm and tornado alerts which will come in the form of a phone call if residents are in the polygon of a storm. The polygon of the storm is when the National Weather Service draws a line to show where the storm is heading. That line is where is the notifications come from.

Pike County residents can sign up for this service by texting 99411 with the message “PIKECOUNTYEMA” and filling out the information requested or sign up through the box in the middle of the right side of the page on Pike County Times at public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/1A53E0DEB62F. Residents can set up or modify an existing account.

Closing

EMA Director Totten spoke with the National Weather Service today and was advised that Pike County only had straight line winds and had no tornado activity.

He said that it seemed like our hardest hit areas were in North Pike County around Chapel Hill and Ellis Circle and then over in the Concord area around Oxford Circle.

“Based on observations we had around the area as the line came through as well as the widespread tree damage, 60-70 mph gusts look to be pretty commonplace,” Totten said. “A few areas with more concentrated damage likely had gusts over 70 mph.”

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