— Power had been restored Monday to the majority of the Tennessee Valley following Wednesday’s deadly tornadoes, but there are still 212,000 homes and businesses without power in Alabama and Mississippi, a spokesman for the Tennessee Valley Authority said.

It could be weeks before areas hardest hit could be restored and summer before the TVA can fully restore its transmission system to its pre-storm condition.

TVA spokesman Ray Golden said Monday afternoon the TVA had only eight more transmission lines to restore between TVA and its distributors customers like Athens Utilities. Those eight distribution points — eight locations where TVA brings 161-kilovolt or 500 kilovolt power to a local utility — serve 37 local power companies. 

“Unfortunately, these eight are mainly in Huntsville and the surrounding area,” Golden said. “Our goal by tomorrow is to have the majority on, though some customers will be out longer than that.”

TVA transmits power to city utility companies, electric co-ops, industries and others in nine states.  Wednesday’s deadly tornadoes damaged or destroyed 90 of TVA’s major transmission lines and 200 of its transmission towers in Alabama and Mississippi.

Golden said that in many cases, repairs became more of a rebuild.

“Virtually all of the TVA connections outside Alabama have been restored, ” Golden said.

“We estimated that to be fully restored — where we have all of our redundancy and a high degree of reliability — would be well into the summer. But as far as at least having lines in place and enabling customers to get the load they want, it will be a few weeks.”

Restoring the TVA lines is just half the battle. In areas like Eastern Limestone County and Tanner, where power poles and lines were damaged or destroyed, local utilities will have to repair them before power is restored.

TVA operates three hydroelectric dams in Alabama — one each at Guntersville, Wheeler and Wilson lakes; two coal-fired generating plants at Widows Creek and Colbert; a nuclear power plant at Browns Ferry near Athens; and a natural gas-fueled combustion turbine site at Colbert.

Athens/Limestone County

In Athens and Limestone County Monday, only 3,000 residents and businesses remained without power in the Tanner and East Limestone communities that were hit hardest by the storm, said Athens Utilities General Manager Gary Scroggins. He could not estimate when crews could restore power to areas where trees and other debris prevent poles from being rebuilt or lines restored. About 21,000 Athens Utilities customers were without power initially.

“We are working around the clock — 15 or 16 hours and then taking 8 hours off,” Scroggins said of his crews and the 13 or 14 crews that have come from Decatur, Troy, Georgia and Tennessee to help. “If this went on any longer, we’d have to slow down a little,” he said. “But for a couple of weeks, we can do this.”

Curfews remain in effect for Tanner and East Limestone because streetlights and traffic lights are not working in those areas and law-enforcement officials are worried about the safety of motorists and the chance of looting.

Elsewhere

Decatur Utilities announced Monday it had restored power to residential and commercial customers. Golden said some industrial customers in Decatur and Morgan County were operating at limited power, though none of the largest industrial customers that receive power directly from TVA.

Huntsville was slowly restoring power in critical areas and commercial corridors and other critical areas Sunday and Monday morning and hoped to get a substantial amount restored Monday night.

Bird’s-eye view

On Thursday, the day after tornadoes struck the South, killing an estimated 350 people, TVA officials flew over its distribution area to assess damage to its 161-kilovolt lines, which mainly supply residential and commercial power, and its 500-kilovolt lines, which mainly serve industries. Then officials mapped out a restoration plan, Golden said.

“We repaired the least damaged areas first and then the hardest hit,” Golden said, noting that TVA gave priority to hospitals, nursing homes, fire departments, police departments and other emergency agencies.

Power has been restored to some industries in the area but not to the largest industries that receive power directly from TVA’s transmission system. TVA has 12 in Alabama.

“Some industries have been returned but we are limiting power,” Golden said. “If we restore full power it could create some additional instability.”

He said these industrial customers have been appreciative and have limited their power use for the greater good.

Warning

Residents in the TVA area have been urged to conserve power to ensure that power is restored and that it remains.

Golden also warned residents using generators to keep them outdoors — not in a house or garage — because they emit deadly carbon monoxide gas, which is odorless and colorless. He also warned generator users never to tie them directly into a home’s electrical circuit because it can create a back feed that could enter power lines, which could injure workers or residents.