THOMASVILLE — Less than 800 of the 7,300 Thomasville Utilities customers who lost power when Hurricane Irma stormed through Monday remained without electrical service Tuesday morning.

“We expect to have that down to 100 or less tonight,” Thomasville City Manager/Utilities Superintendent Steve Sykes said Tuesday morning.

Springhill Road has the greatest number of outages remaining. Others are on Raleigh Avenue, Metcalfe/Beachton, Russell and Cassidy roads, Abbey Lake and Quail Rise apartments, Junius Street and Tuxedo Drive.

Failing trees and limbs are the biggest culprit in the outages. Poles are being set, and lines are being put on poles.

Where service was disconnected from a structure, city crews are working with local electricians to restore service.

Crews went off duty at midnight Monday and returned at 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Electric crews from Acworth were expected to arrive Thomasville midday Tuesday to assist local workers in restoring power.

“We started planning for the storm Wednesday (Sept. 6),” Sykes said. “We had daily team meetings for preparedness.”

Meetings included representatives from police, sanitation, fire, public works, utilities, communications, financial services and administration.

In addition to power outages among customers, the city experience an early outage at a sewer lift station on South Pinetree Boulevard. A tree took out power, which could have resulted in a overflow of raw sewage. Emergency stand-by power power kicked in until the situation was corrected.

Food for city employees continuously responding to storm-related emergencies was included in preparedness strategy.

Once proper operations of city water, natural gas and sewers was assured, employees who work in those areas made up the meal-preparation team. Food preparation got underway at the Smith Avenue facility that houses water, natural gas and sewer offices.

Food to feed 200 for three days was part of the city’s storm contingency plan.

“We served out first meal at noon Monday — hamburgers and hot dogs,” Sykes said.

Some food was served in a large room at the Smith Avenue building. Meals also were taken to work sites.

Meals resumed at 6 a.m. Tuesday, when crews returned to work.

Sykes said even the city food-preparation exercise was hampered by the storm when Smith Avenue building lost power. Grills and other methods were used until power returned.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820