Power restored after fallen tree causes major outage in Palmetto

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A major power outage is affecting the City of Palmetto on June 28, 2026. (Credit: City of Palmetto) 

PALMETTO, Ga. - Electricity has been restored to the City of Palmetto after a transmission line failure and subsequent fire plunged the community into darkness for hours on Sunday, city officials said. 

What we know:

The City of Palmetto confirmed that electrical power was restored to impacted areas at 9:51 p.m. Sunday. 

The blackout had previously knocked out electricity across most residential neighborhoods and a large portion of commercial areas throughout the city.

The widespread emergency began when a large tree collapsed directly across main transmission lines along Collinsworth Road. 

The path of destruction sliced through wooded sections to Greensprings Drive before extending over to Cobb Street. While Palmetto shares those primary lines with EMC and Georgia Power, Georgia Power crews maintain the infrastructure and executed the physical system rebuild. 

Palmetto’s electric, fire, police, and public works departments responded within minutes of the failure, successfully extinguishing a fire triggered by the fallen hardware.

The backstory:

Because severe summer heat settled over the region during the extensive breakdown, municipal coordinators had rushed to establish multiple cooling shelters. 

The Palmetto Community Center at 595 Main Street supplied generator-powered fans and bottled water to residents, while Palmetto Baptist Church at 6433 Hwy 29 N also opened its doors.

Neighboring public safety allies in the City of Chattahoochee Hills similarly stepped in, providing a cool space at their City Hall on 6505 Rico Road for any displaced Palmetto families. 

What we don't know:

City coordinators have not yet determined the total number of individual households or business accounts that were left without electricity during the peak of the blackout. 

Additionally, officials have not confirmed the exact cost of the transmission infrastructure damage or if area grocery stores suffered commercial inventory losses during the multi-hour restoration grid lock.