Hurricane Isaias moved away from Georgia after knocking out electricity across North Atlanta, damaging trees and power equipment and disrupting weekend plans.

The storm’s greatest local effect was not the catastrophic flooding once considered possible. It was the broad trail of wind-related outages left across Fulton, Gwinnett, DeKalb and Forsyth counties.

By 2 p.m. Saturday, about 50,000 Georgia customers were without electricity. That included approximately 4,300 customers in DeKalb County, 2,500 in Gwinnett and 2,000 in Fulton.

Those counties encompass most of North Atlanta Star’s coverage area, from Sandy Springs and Roswell to Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Duluth, Lawrenceville and Suwanee.

Wind drove the widespread outages

Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, as a Category 2 hurricane Friday before weakening as it moved inland. Its outer circulation still brought enough wind and rain into North Georgia to topple trees and damage utility equipment.

Forsyth County also experienced outages caused by heavy rain and high winds, sending Sawnee EMC crews into the field Saturday.

Georgia Power had restored service to more than 80,000 customers statewide by Saturday afternoon, while crews worked around fallen trees and continued wind.

The region’s high-wind warning and flood watch expired Sunday morning. Isaias continued north into the Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic, ending the immediate tropical-weather threat to North Atlanta.

Jackson EMC cut its outage count within hours

Jackson EMC’s restoration numbers show how quickly conditions improved in parts of Gwinnett County.

At 8:30 a.m. Saturday, the cooperative had 97 outages affecting 5,070 members across its 10-county service area. Gwinnett accounted for 239 of those members.

By 5:30 p.m., only 65 Jackson EMC members remained without power, including 29 in Gwinnett. Linemen continued working on the final 10 outages.

The cooperative attributed the damage to fallen trees, power lines and poles. Some repair sites were difficult for bucket trucks to reach, requiring crews to climb poles.

The figures do not include customers served by Georgia Power, Sawnee EMC or other utilities, but they illustrate the progression from widespread morning failures to smaller, isolated repairs by Saturday evening.

The state of emergency remains active

The weather threat has ended locally, but Georgia’s state of emergency remains in effect through 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15. The declaration allows state and local agencies to continue recovery work and keeps additional consumer protections in place.

Georgia’s price-gouging law applies to goods and services needed for storm response and recovery during the emergency. Businesses may pass along documented increases in their own costs, but they cannot simply raise prices because demand has increased.

Residents who encounter suspected price gouging can submit a complaint to the Georgia Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.

Damage can still be reported

Homeowners, businesses and local governments can report Isaias damage through Georgia’s online assessment portal. Those reports help emergency managers measure the storm’s overall cost, although submitting one is separate from filing an insurance claim or applying for assistance.

Residents should continue treating every fallen or low-hanging utility line as energized. Georgia Power customers can report dangerous lines or outages at 888-891-0938. Electric cooperative customers should contact their individual provider.

The weekend’s warnings have passed, but cleanup remains uneven from one neighborhood to another. For residents still dealing with a damaged tree, interrupted service or property repairs, the recovery period is continuing even under clearing skies.