Downtown Ellijay loses power with downed tree

ELLIJAY, Ga. – For citizens with appointments or looking to conduct business in the downtown area this afternoon, a downed tree has put a major hurdle into that effort.

With the heavy rainfall and wind in the last two days, the stress finally took down a tree on Logan Street according to the Gilmer Sheriff’s Office who posted the notification saying that Gilmer’s Courthouse was included in that outage. No injuries have been reported.

The National Weather Service did issue a warning for severe weather lasting through Wednesday night. No major damage has been reported and the incident seems to be isolated. However, due to the location of the incident, many shops and businesses in the downtown area could be without power for until the line is restored.

The county courthouse does operate a backup generator to support critical functions and allow offices to save work and shut down, but the generator does not maintain full power to the facility. Until crews can restore power, many functions are left down or limited. Due to this, the commissioners office has ceased its public operations for the last hour and half of the day. Many others still operate such as the Sheriff’s Office and specific elected officials.

Reports indicate that strong to damaging winds could reach up to 40 – 60 mph as the storm continues.