Inquirer: Georgia Power comes to the rescue

A large ugly hunk of metal showed up in town recently.

No, I’m not talking about some of the public art on Broadway; this was in the river.

A huge hunk of what may be metal roofing or siding had come downstream, possibly during the huge flooding after Christmas, and lodged itself in the riverbed. It sat there, sticking out of the water a couple of hundred yards north of the Second Avenue electrical substation, but much closer to the Alabama side. Not only was it ugly, but it also had sharp edges and posed a threat to those using the river.

Cassie Renfrow, the new executive director of the Chattahoochee RiverWarden organization, called Robert Watkins of Georgia Power and asked if they might have equipment that could get it out of the water.

Watkins said they were going to have a crew in that area (which is close to some Georgia Power lines) and he’d see what they thought.

“The crew waded out there at low water,” Watkins said. (Because they are Georgia Power and they own the North Highland Dam that controls the flow, they can get as low a flow as they want, I’d guess.) “They drilled a hole in it and hooked up a cable to it from the line truck’s winch and eventually tugged it up onto the bank.”

But it wasn’t easy. One worker estimated it weighed about 20,000 pounds.

“Bringing that thing out was a job,” Watkins said. “It was a lot bigger than they first thought, and a lot of it was buried in the ground. When I saw the size of it, I couldn’t believe it.

“When you put that crew on a job, they’re going to get it done.”

Renfrow watched the extraction and emailed Watkins afterward.

“I was incredibly impressed watching this crew today,” Renfrow wrote. “Thanks so much for all of the hard work, and I really appreciate Georgia Power moving so quickly to resolve this issue! We’re very lucky to have such great partners like you in our region!”

Watkins said he had spoken to his colleagues at Alabama Power in Phenix City (they’re all one big happy Southern Company family) and was told that the city of Phenix City would pick up the huge chunks of metal and dispose of them.

Dan Gilbert, owner of Whitewater Express, which puts more people and rafts in the river than anyone else, said he was thrilled to see Georgia Power get the metal out.

“Anytime you have something foreign in the river, it can pose a threat,” Gilbert said. “Those things can move around. One day it might be flat on the bottom and pose no threat, but with the changing levels of the river, one end might get lifted up and it becomes a trap threat.”

But not anymore.

“It’s great to have the kind of relationship we have with Georgia Power,” Gilbert said. “But the great thing is, it’s not just one person or one group, it’s a lot of people and groups working together, in both Columbus and in Phenix City.”

This story was originally published July 3, 2016 at 8:35 PM with the headline "Inquirer: Georgia Power comes to the rescue."