Cartersville, Bartow Clean Up After Irma Tears Through Georgia

CARTERSVILLE, GA -- Cartersville and Bartow County residents are in the midst of surveying the damage caused by the rain and winds Tropical Storm Irma dumped onto Georgia throughout Monday. Several trees and power lines are down around the county, but fortunately, Bartow was spared of any serious damaged that's been reported in other areas of metro Atlanta and north Georgia.

Chrisann Moseley, assistant to Bartow County Emergency Management Agency Director Paul Cuprowski, said two reports of power lines were down: one in Adairsville and the other at Deer Run Lane in White. She also said the Bartow County Fire Department reported numerous calls of service related to trees down and wrecks.

"They were busy, but nothing major," she said.

The department, which added Tuesday morning on its Facebook page that it continues to respond to calls of vehicle accidents, power lines that are down and trees across the road, reminded motorists to slow down and drive with care if they have to get on the roads today.

The city of Cartersville said its staff members worked hard overnight to clean up two trees that were brought down by Irma's winds (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app).

Watch: FEMA Says Irma Clean-Up Will Be A Complex And Frustrating Process

"Fortunately, no one has hurt and the community encountered little damage," it said on its Facebook page. "The hard work of those cleaning up the debris is greatly appreciated."

More than 1 million residents across Georgia remain without power and at least two deaths have been recorded as the storm moved through the Peach State. Strong winds pounded the state throughout the day Monday, toppled trees that brought down power lines and killed two people.

According to Georgia Power, about 787,000 people throughout the state remained without power shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday. Georgia EMC, which represents the state's various electric membership cooperatives, was reporting another roughly 431,000 customers with no power.

Tuesday's lingering outages were mainly centered around coastal communities like Savannah and Brunswick and the metro Atlanta area, though hot spots also were being reported in Athens and central Georgia's Warner Robins area. Georgia Power said it had 5,500 personnel working to restore services Tuesday morning and that restoration efforts "may take several days, if not weeks, to complete."

Meanwhile, state emergency officials were encouraging evacuees in the state — be they from Florida or south Georgia — to stay in place for the time being. Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security said shortly after 9 a.m. that 22 bridge inspection teams were at work assessing Irma's damage.

Images via WBHF Radio