Last outages south of Nolichucky projected for Saturday completion

JOHNSON CITY – BrightRidge restored all remaining outages north of the Nolichucky by Thursday morning, down from 33,458 outages at the height of storm Helene.

Since the hurricane hit Friday, BrightRidge and contracted crews rebuilt two river crossings across the storm-widened Nolichucky River channel, removed hundreds of fallen trees and replaced scores of broken power poles to return power to much of South Central and the BrightRidge service area.

Work to cross the river channel at the former Taylor Bridge began Wednesday with construction of a road down to the area where conductor wire support structures will be built.

“We do expect to complete the third Nolichucky crossing at the Taylor Bridge site on Saturday,” BrightRidge CEO Jeff Dykes said. “With that complete, we will be able to reenergize about 120 meters in the area that can be energized.”

Many homes will need work of some type before they can safely be reconnected to the BrightRidge distribution grid.

“We know this is far from recovery, but we at least have a starting point for the many, many folks who have suffered a loss from this once-in-a-generation storm,” Dykes said. “As we move forward, we at BrightRidge will continue to do everything we can to assist our customers.”

BrightRidge Broadband has also restored services to most of its customers, with any remaining outages largely due to damage to homes or power outages south of the river.

Dykes also again asked that any motorists traveling south of the Nolichucky to use the utmost caution. Unnecessary travel in the vicinity of should be avoided as many different agencies are at work.

Washington County officials have also temporarily closed the airspace above the Nolichucky to drone and paragliders to clear airspace for relief flights and clean-up efforts.