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Over 300,000 customers in metro Atlanta suffered power outages as heavy winds from Tropical Storm Irma rolled into the area Monday afternoon.

Other areas of the state also were hit with widespread outages.
Deal said coastal Georgia has experienced a significant amount of flooding.

Almost 1.2 million Georgia customers were without power by 4 p.m. Monday, with more tree-snapping winds forecast to come later in the evening.

While power line crews and just about everyone else across the state hunkered down to avoid dangerous winds, the Georgia coast and southern half of the state took the brunt of Tropical Storm Irma’s wrath early in the day as it headed north from Florida.

Georgia Power reported more than 800,000 customers were affected, while Georgia EMC, a trade group that represents electrical utility cooperatives, said more than 382,000 homes and businesses were without power in its service areas.

Metro Atlanta had the largest number of outages, but other cities lost power to tens of thousands of customers.

Savannah had more than 78,000 customers still without power late in the afternoon, down from more than 80,000 earlier in the day. Other coastal areas were hit hard as well, with more than 62,000 homes and businesses without power in St. Simons Island and Brunswick and surrounding areas.

Columbus had almost 37,000 customers with outages, while Macon had more than 71,000. Augusta had almost 35,000.

Coastal and south Georgia accounted for most of the outages at electric coops, according to Georgia EMC, with more than 208,000 affected customers.