MOULTRIE, Ga. — As Moultrie starts to return to normal after being rocked by Hurricane Michael, the efforts of city workers and volunteers did not go unnoticed as they worked diligently to restore power, provide shelter and keep a constant line of communication with the community throughout the ordeal.

At the Moultrie City Council meeting Tuesday, Director of Utilities Elvira Gibson discussed the the damage that Michael did to the city.

Gibson said 3,397 meters experienced power outages — half of all the city’s customers. More than a dozen power poles needed to be replaced, and ten transformers needed to be changed. A number of trees were down in roads. It took four days to restore most of the city’s power, but Moultrie was the first area city to have all its power restored.

Gibson and her team hit the streets around 3 a.m and started working a few hours after the hurricane settled. With help from other cities that weren’t affected by the hurricane, they were able to start the process of getting things back and running.

Gibson spoke about the importance of being prepared at the city council meeting.

“We had contract crews come in from Cartersville and Acworth,” she said. “We had about 16 linemen come in and help also. To be number one in having power restored you have to have those crews that can come in and you have to be adequately staffed so that you can manage them. We started preparing Monday while other cities started Tuesday. We were ahead of the pack and we are glad for it.”

While the power was out city workers stayed connected with citizens on Facebook giving them constant updates about the storm and power information.

On the other side of things, the City of Moultrie worked with Rich Gallagher and the Moultrie YMCA to open a shelter for the hurricane. More than 223 people showed up, and for two days the shelter fed people about four times a day. Mt. Olive Baptist Church opened its doors as a shelter as well.

City Manager Pete Dillard spoke highly of the city’s preparation and execution.

“In conjunction with the public works department they did an outstanding job,” Dillard said. “The guys came in before the storm hit so they actually slept at their departments and about 3 a.m public workers were all over town cutting down trees and getting them out of the road. Utility workers were working on getting power back up. I’ll tell you that these guys worked morning noon and night, on three to four hours of sleep and it was pretty amazing what they did.

“Through four days of hard work and volunteering the city made it through Hurricane Michael with a few bumps and bruises,” Dillard said. “A huge thanks to the men and women that helped throughout whether it’s Police Chief (Sean) Ladson pulling over and helping cut trees with his chainsaw or whether it’s downtown manager Amy Johnson help setting the hurricane shelter in motion, this was a community effort.

“We as a community made this happen, it was a whole city of Moultrie effort, and I couldn’t be prouder of what they accomplished,” he said.