Here’s what happened in Richland County this morning as Hurricane Michael hit

The effects of Hurricane Michael have started to impact Richland County. Here’s what happened Thursday morning and early afternoon.

Outages

Power outages rose steadily throughout the morning then began to drop sharply as utility crews hit the streets before the storm had even passed. By 2 p.m., SCE&G reported about 4,650 power outages caused by 250 incidents. The number of outages had dropped sharply from some 11,000 several hours earlier.

A powerline fell on a house on the 7500 block of Stone Street, which is off Garner’s Ferry heading towards Lower Richland, a spokesperson for the fire department said. Everyone got out okay.

Deeper into Lower Richland, a large tree pulled down a power line and lay across Old Creek Road in Hopkins around midday. Several houses nearby were isolated and without power.

Road blockages, downed trees and bus service

A number of collisions occurred, including two on I-77, one in the northbound lane near mile marker 19 and another in the southbound lane of the interstate at marker 5. No injuries were reported.

A collision blocked Elders Pond Drive near Hard Scrabble Road.

Fallen trees also blocked up roads and interstates. I-26 eastbound and westbound had trees block lanes, one near mile marker 91 westbound and another near mile 94 eastbound. A tree fell across Congress Road near Millwood Avenue. Two trees came down on Garners Ferry Road, one at 9790 Garners Ferry rd and another near the roads intersection with Chain Gang road.

As of 7:45 a.m. Old Hopkins Road near Lower Richland Boulevard was still completely by a tree as was Johnson Marina Road near Richland Franklin Boulevard. It had been cleared by midday.

St. Andrews Road at Fernadina Road was being blocked by an object in the road just before 8 a.m.

Standing water blocked a portion of Old Garners Ferry Road, near Pinewood Lake Park, as of around 2 p.m.

A downed tree fell across a home on the 5100 block of Randall Street trapping a person inside, according to the Columbia Fire Department. They were able to get the person out.

The COMET, Richland County’s public bus, suspended services on Thursday until further notice.

Flooding and advisories

Flooding at I-26 near exit 106, which is near St. Andrews Road, has caused the eastbound exit ramp to close.

A flood advisory was put out by the Highway Patrol for water building up on Decker Boulevard near O’Neil Court and on Piney Grove Road near Piney Wood Road.

The National Weather Service in Columbia issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for Richland County around 7:30 a.m.

A spokesperson for the Columbia Fire Department said that there had been “minor flooding in some areas.”

Closings & Trash collection in Richland County

The county delayed trash service by a day. So if your curbside trash is usually picked up on Thursday, it will be picked up on Friday. If it’s usually picked up Friday, it will be picked up Saturday.

The county landfill drop off center at 1070 Caughman Rd and the drop off center at 10531 Garners Ferry Rd are both closed. The drop-off site at 900 Clemson Road is also closed. They will be reopened Friday.

See our article on Closings for other Richland County closings including schools

Staff writer Jeff Wilkinson contributed reporting.

This story was originally published October 11, 2018 at 8:44 AM.