Boil water advisory issued for Rochelle after power failure at well; Schools closed Friday

A power failure at the city’s well left Rochelle without water Thursday, leading officials to issue a mandatory boil water advisory for residents once service is restored.

ROCHELLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — A power failure at the city’s well left Rochelle without water Thursday, leading officials to issue a mandatory boil water advisory for residents once service is restored.

According to a social media post by Rochelle Mayor Wayne McGuinty, the outage happened due to a defective transformer. He said in the post this was the third time in two weeks the city had lost power at the well.

“We apologize for the inconvenience, but Georgia Power has promised to diagnose the issue and fix the problem,” McGuinty wrote.

Less than two hours later, McGuinty said Georgia Power crews were on-site working to replace the transformer.

“If all goes well, water will be back on around four today,” he said. “We appreciate your patience during this time.”

Thursday afternoon, the city issued a boil water advisory, warning residents that the loss of pressure could allow contaminated water to enter the system.

“In order to protect the public from a potential health hazard, all citizens that have experienced water outages and/or low water pressures are advised to ‘boil’ all water prior to use for drinking, cooking, or preparing baby food,” the notice stated. “The water should be boiled for at least one minute after reaching a rolling boil.”

Just after 3 p.m. McGuinty confirmed that the transformer had been replaced, the well was running and water was flowing again.

“Pressure should begin building momentarily,” he wrote.

The advisory will remain in effect until test results confirm the water is safe to drink. Officials said they will send samples to a lab in Tifton as soon as pressure stabilizes. The testing process takes 24 hours.

The water outage also disrupted local schools. Wilcox County Schools announced an early dismissal at 2 p.m. Thursday due to the lack of water and canceled all after-school events. The district also said school would be closed on Friday.

Residents should continue to boil water until the city provides official notice that it is safe to use. For more information, contact Rochelle City Hall at (229) 365-2244.