A storm blew into Chattanooga shortly after 3 p.m. with a whistling wind and driving rain.
However, Hamilton County School officials said school will reopen at the regularly scheduled times on Thursday.
Numerous power lines and several street lights were knocked down.
EPB officials said about 5,500 customers experienced an outage greater than five minutes.
Crews will continue working into the night to repair damage and restore the remaining customers, about 3,000 as of 5:30 p.m.
By Thursday morning, all but about 100 customers affected by Wednesday's severe storms hadbeen restored, and those should have power by midday, EPBs said.
Officials said the Smart Grid prevented about 9,700 customers from experiencing an outage.
A number of roads were closed by flood waters or downed limbs.
Here was the roads closed and road hazards situation at 4:10 p.m.:
2400 Welch Rd Trees down/Road closed Hamilton Co
Shirley Pond/Harrison Bay Tree down/Road closed Hamilton Co
Signal Mtn Blvd/Mountain Ct Tree down/Road closed Signal Mtn
5400 Delashmitt Rd Tree down/Road closed Chattanooga
4700 Rocky River Tree down/Road closed Chattanooga
14304 Old Dayton Pike Trees/Wires Down Hamilton Co
2500 Poe Road Tree across roadway Hamilton Co
2400 Welch Road Tree across Roadway Hamilton Co
Hidden Brook/Middle Creek Tree in Roadway Hamilton Co
2200 Suck Creek Rd Trees in Roadway Hamilton Co
5809 Tyner Ln Power Pole/Wires down Hamilton Co
7726 Middle Valley Rd Trees in Roadway Hamilton Co
Shirley Pond/Harrison Pike Tree across Roadway Hamilton Co
Eastgate Loop/Brainerd Rd Flooding in roadway Chattanooga
5400 Delashmitt Rd Tree down across Roadway Chattanooga
1200 Suck Creek Rd Trees in Roadway Chattanooga
1400 Signal Mtn Blvd Tree down R lane Chattanooga
2500 Stuart St Trees/Wires down Chattanooga
3300 Hixson Pike SB Tree across Roadway Chattanooga
1700 Ashmore Ave Pole/Wires down Red Bank
110 Martin Road Tree down Red Bank
1400 Dayton Blvd Power Pole snapped Red Bank
4100 Dayton Blvd Power Pole down
Signal Mtn Blvd/Mountain CT Tree down
Gold Point Cir/Chester Frost Tree down
Chattanooga City Court was closed Wednesday afternoon. All cases at 3:00, 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. are passed to next Wednesday at the same time.
Georgia Northwestern Technical College will close all campuses at 2 p.m. due to the threat of severe weather. All evening classes and activities have been canceled.
Due to impending weather, churches are canceling services on Wednesday.
Union Hill M. B. Church, 1800 North Chamberlain Ave., will be closed.
The Cleveland Cowboy Church at 3040 Blythe Road in Cleveland, will not have Wednesday night Bible Study.
The Ashes to Go event that was planned for Wednesday afternoon has been cancelled.
Wednesday night activities are canceled at Covenant Presbyterian Church.