Harriman Utility Board (HUB) line crews have successfully restored power to nearly all affected residents following a wave of severe thunderstorms that tore through the service territory on the evening of July 3rd, leaving thousands in the dark over the holiday weekend.

At the peak of the outages on Friday night, approximately 4,500 customers were without electricity. The bulk of the blackouts occurred after the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) lost a critical 161KV feed to the Blair Substation, cutting power to roughly 3,000 customers across Oliver Springs, Sugar Grove Valley, Dyllis, Blair, and Poplar Creek. Teams from TVA successfully repaired the feed within a matter of hours, allowing HUB to begin the painstaking process of fixing localized damage.

By Saturday afternoon, July 4th, the number of outages had dropped to 180 as utility workers battled fallen trees and tangled power lines. Crews faced highly scattered, isolated issues requiring extensive travel between sites in Shady Road, Oakdale, Bitter Creek, and Mossy Grove.

As of 11:45 p.m. on Saturday night, HUB officials confirmed that only 26 customers remained without power, primarily concentrated along Oakdale Highway and Camp Austin Road, alongside minor isolated outages in Bitter Creek and May’s Valley.

“Although these outages affect fewer customers, they can take longer to repair because each location requires individual attention,” HUB stated in an update, assuring remaining residents that crews would not stop working until every home is reconnected. “If you are one of the remaining customers without power, please know that we have not forgotten you.”

HUB expressed immense gratitude to its linemen and support staff for working around the clock, as well as to the community for their patience and support during the Independence Day holiday.

Officials urge the public to remain vigilant during the final phases of cleanup:

• Assume all downed power lines are energized and extremely dangerous.

• Stay far away from downed lines and anything they may be touching.

• Do not attempt to move or approach a downed line under any circumstances.

• New hazards or downed lines can be reported directly to the Harriman Utility Board. Remaining customers do not need to call to report standard outages, as the automated AMI system tracks them, but can monitor live progress on the HUB Outage Map.