Hundreds without power in southwest Atlanta due to fallen tree on power lines

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Families in southwest Atlanta woke up Tuesday morning to the power out and the sound of chainsaws after a massive tree tumbled onto power lines along Bakers Ferry Road.

Michelle Perdue lives across the street. She said she had just walked outside and saw the tree fall.

“Then, when I close this door, I heard something go boom,” said Perdue.

The residential neighborhood sits within a heavily wooded area near Utoy Boulder Park. The treefall was likely due to strong wind gusts and rain-saturated ground.

At the height of the outage more than 600 customers were without power.

“No heat, no heat. I was like man it’s cold! At about 2 o’clock that’s when it started getting cold in this house,” said Perdue.

Atlanta police blocked the street in both directions in the 4000 block of Bakers Ferry Road. Before making repairs, crews had to wait for Georgia Power to arrive and cut electricity to the utility lines.

The start of school was not impacted. School buses were directed around the street closures.

“He had to walk down there to get on the bus. I told him that he’s going to have to leave early to catch the bus because it may not come around,” said Perdue.

No injuries were reported.