Columbia strip mall left in the dark, but not due to storm. Here’s what happened
Four businesses in a strip mall in South Carolina lost power Monday morning, according to the Columbia Fire Department.
The blackout wasn’t caused by the powerful thunderstorms moving across the Midlands. The outage happened after a car crashed into one of the businesses at the strip mall, the fire department said in a post on social media that was shared at about 10 a.m.
The business without power are in the small Ben’s Cleaners Columbia strip mall on Colonial Life Boulevard West, according to the post. That’s in the 1400 block, near the intersection with Bush River Road, across the street from Dutch Square Mall.
A car left the parking lot and drove into the Asia Nails & Tanning Salon, the fire department said. The business suffered a lot of damage in the wreck, according to the post.
Power was shut off to the shop and three neighboring businesses in the strip mall, the fire department said.
No injuries were reported.
There was no word about what caused the car to smash through the front of the salon, but the collision will be investigated by law enforcement, according to the post.
Information about when power could be restored was not available, and there was no word if the salon can be salvaged or should be considered a total loss.
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This story was originally published March 16, 2026 at 10:27 AM.
