Georgia Power transforms mall parking lot into small city

SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Georgia Power is transforming Union City's old Shannon Mall parking lot into a small city as its crews, and crews from around the country, try to repair down power lines across the south metro area as fast as they can.

As of 4 p.m., Georgia Power said about 44,000 customer still were without power, but it added it had restored power to about 77,000 south metro customers within the past 24 hours.

Crews from as far away as Florida and Texas are staging at the old mall on Jonesboro Road.  Georgia Power has brought in sleeping trailers, mobile kitchens, even shower trailers to accommodate the hundreds of crews.

Anah Wynn and her family live in Union City.  They've been without power since Wednesday afternoon and were told they may have to wait until Saturday before electricity is restored.

"I mean, it's inconvenient, and I do feel for people who are dependent on power for heat, but for us, we're OK," said Wynn.

Wynn has a wood-burning fireplace to keep the house warm and a generator out back to keep essential things like cellphones charged.

Charles Perkins lives in Tyrone and has been without power since Tuesday night.  He has a wood-burning fireplace and generators, too.  Still, he thinks repairs are taking too long.

"It's taking too long," said Perkins. "I mean, being raised here and everything, that's the first time I've seen it this bad.  Usually, they have the power up pretty quick, but it's taking a long time."

Georgia Power customers can click here to report outages.

WSBTV