Nearly 300,000 SC customers still awaiting power a week after Hurricane Helene
The number of power outages following Hurricane Helene is dwindling but remains considerable a week after the storm tore across a large swath of South Carolina.
As of about 7:30 a.m. Friday, 282,896 customers in the state remained without power. That’s down from 490,696 on Wednesday morning.
The majority of outages are still in the Upstate region, with three counties seeing a majority of their customers without power: Laurens County (15,595 out of 30,386 customers without power), Greenwood County (14,413 out of 27,111), and Edgfield County (8,050 out of 14,795). It could be a while before some of these customers get power back.
Outages are down in Lexington County (4,631 Friday compared to 12,583 Wednesday) and Richland County (1,003 Friday compared to 4,714 Wednesday).
Overall, in the Midlands counties of Richland, Lexington, Kershaw, Orangeburg, Calhoun, Fairlfield, Sumter and Saluda, 10,491 customers were without power Friday morning. That doesn’t include the 35,613 in Aiken County.
Dominion Energy, which has 820,613 customers in the state, had shaved its outages from 57,102 to 35,337 between Wednesday and Friday. Duke Energy, which has 185,733 customers in the state, had cut its outages from 323,015 to 185,733. The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina had reduced its outages from 110,759 to 61,926.
How long to go?
Dominion Energy updated its estimates for restoring power Thursday:
| COUNTY | Estimated Time for 95% Restoration |
| Abbeville | Active restoration in progress. |
| Aiken | Active restoration in progress. |
| Allendale | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Bamberg | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Barnwell | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Beaufort | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Berkeley | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Calhoun | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Charleston | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Colleton | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Dorchester | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Edgefield | Active restoration in progress. |
| Fairfield | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Greenwood | Active restoration in progress. |
| Hampton | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Jasper | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Kershaw | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Lexington | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| McCormick | Active restoration in progress. |
| Newberry | Friday, Oct. 4, 8 p.m.Due to extensive damage, restoration times have been extended. |
| Orangeburg | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Richland | More than 95% completed. Restoration ongoing. |
| Saluda | Active restoration in progress. |
| Union | Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m. |
Duke Energy said Thursday night that it was on track to restore 134,000 customers by Friday evening. The remaining 85,000 costumers, which are in the hardest-hit areas, are anticipated to be restored by Sunday.
Reporting an outage
To report an outage, customers can go online or call:
▪ Dominion 888-333-4465
▪ Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina 803-796-6060
▪ Santee Cooper 888-769-7688
▪ Duke 800-769-3766
BEHIND THE STORY
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This story was originally published October 4, 2024 at 9:32 AM.
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