Power companies across South Carolina are working hard to restore electricity to residents affected by Tropical Storm Helene. Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative has restored power to about 4,900 members as of Tuesday night. In total, over 40,000 members have had their power restored.
Line crews are working around the clock to restore power around South Carolina. Find below the latest power outage updates in the state: https://t.co/uPEiuiZUhl
— Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) October 1, 2024
However, 24,151 members are still without electricity. This represents about 33% of the cooperative’s membership. The storm caused a lot of damage, including 625 broken poles.
🚨#Helene Update🚨
Thousands of electric cooperative lineworkers dug in for a third day of repairs, as co-ops throughout the Southeast tempered positive reports of power restoration with somber expectations.
Read more ⬇️ https://t.co/jid5qSYggv
— NRECA (@NRECANews) September 29, 2024
This is the highest number ever recorded in Blue Ridge’s 84-year history. Duke Energy has also faced a lot of damage and is working to restore power. As of 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday, over 600,000 customer outages have been fixed in South Carolina.
“When you're talking about rebuilding the system, you're talking about multiple pieces of interconnecting infrastructure that you just have to replace. And it's not a simple repair.”
https://t.co/zUnwllkpS2— Ryan Mosier (@DE_RyanMosier) October 1, 2024
But 326,000 customers in the Upstate region are still without power. In North Carolina, 1 million customer outages have been restored. However, 175,000 customers in the mountain region are still affected.
“Our thousands of lineworkers and other storm workers are gaining better access to the destruction …allowing them to begin repairing and rebuilding major portions of the power grid that were simply wiped away.” @DukeEnergy https://t.co/4yEFEU7zip pic.twitter.com/hlh8ZGTzD5
— Ryan Mosier (@DE_RyanMosier) September 30, 2024
Overall, Duke Energy has restored nearly 1.6 million outages in the Carolinas.
Restoring power post-Helene damage
They expect to fix most of the remaining outages by Friday night.
Laurens Electric Cooperative has restored power to 35,743 members, which is about 56% of their members. They are working to bring back power to the rest of their members. 22 of the 32 substations are back online.
The cooperative has found over 300 broken power poles. Each one takes 2-4 hours to repair or replace. They estimate that transmission lines to affected counties will be restored by October 7th at the latest.
Crews from multiple states are working 24/7 in shifts to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Residents should avoid approaching line workers and make way for restoration crews on the roads. People who depend on medical equipment and don’t have power should contact the S.C. Department of Public Health for help at 1-855-472-3432.
The restoration efforts are still going on. As progress continues, more specific information will be provided. Power companies appreciate the understanding and patience of their members during this difficult time.
