Left in the heat for days: Georgia retiree gets help after tree knocks out power
Woman left without working air conditioner
On some of the hottest days of the year, a Forest Park woman says a tree knocked out her power leaving her without an air conditioner.
FOREST PARK, Ga. - An 83-year-old Forest Park woman was without air conditioning for two days after a fallen tree branch knocked out power to her home — and it wasn’t until a call from FOX 5 Atlanta that help finally arrived.
Forest Park woman left in the heat
What they're saying:
Mary Keahey, a retired grocery store meat wrapper living on a fixed income, said the problems began Monday when a loud crash startled her at home.
"I heard terrible racket and I wondered… what the heck is that," Keahey recalled.
The noise came from a 30-foot Bradford pear tree, which had dropped a large branch onto her home, damaging her porch and vehicle, and snapping the power line.
"I looked out the window, and there was this huge limb off of this tree on my car, on my house, on my porch," Keahey said.
She had previously sold the right to remove the problematic tree to Georgia Power and kept paperwork documenting the agreement. But despite her and a neighbor's calls to the utility company and the local fire department, no action was taken for nearly two days. Keahey said she was told she needed to hire an electrician — something she simply couldn’t afford.
"They're telling me that I have to get an electrician to repair it. I can't afford it. I am on Social Security and that's it," she said.
Georgia Power makes repairs
The other side:
Desperate and overheated, Keahey reached out to FOX 5 Atlanta. Just hours after the station contacted Georgia Power, a supervisor arrived at her home.
Georgia Power later told FOX 5 they would remove the tree and restore Keahey’s electricity that same day.
"I hope they'll just send an electrician out here and fix that and turn my power back on," she said earlier in the day.
Keahey had feared she would be forced to sleep in her car because of the intense summer heat. But that outcome was avoided.
The Source: FOX 5's Aunglique Proctor spoke with Mary Keahey, a retired grocery store meat wrapper living on a fixed income, for this article. Georgia Power contributed to this report.