Power outages surged across Georgia after sundown Friday as winds picked up, temperatures dropped and freezing rain turned to ice on power lines and trees branches.

Just before 6 p.m. Friday, Georgia Power’s outage map showed more than 32,000 of the utility’s 2.7 million customers were without power, a sharp uptick from just a few hundred in the middle of the afternoon. Most were around metro Atlanta.

In a news release, earlier Friday, Georgia Power had warned it was possible outages could increase with “additional ice accumulation, falling trees or weather-related causes.” The company said it has moved crews from South Georgia to help and has additional reinforcements from other utilities under its parent company, Southern Company, and others from Florida it can call on.

Georgia’s electric membership cooperatives were also facing rising outages.

Georgia EMC, which represents the cooperatives that primarily serve rural parts of the state, showed its members had more than 30,000 customers without power at 6 p.m., its outage map showed. Most of those were also in counties around metro Atlanta.

As crews try to get the lights back on for customers, Georgia Power also stressed several safety tips:

— Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated.