Berkeley Electric Cooperative employees Tommy Cox (left) and Trey Littlejohn (right) work to clear debris after Tropical Storm Idalia.
Photo by Micah Ponce
Electric cooperative crews across South Carolina worked through the night to respond to Tropical Storm Idalia, and they continue to work this morning to restore power to more than 4,000 cooperative meters that remain out.
Fortunately, South Carolina was spared the worst of Idalia’s damage, as the former Category 3 hurricane weakened to a tropical storm before it reached the Palmetto State.
Still, at its peak around 11:42 p.m. last night, the storm’s high winds and heavy rains had knocked out power for some 15,039 meters on the cooperative system, most of them in the eastern half of the state. Cooperatives continue to assess the damage, but early reports indicate Idalia snapped at least 20 power poles on the co-op system across South Carolina.
With help from contractors and cooperative crews from Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, South Carolina’s electric cooperatives have restored power to more than 11,000 meters.
Stay up to date with real-time outage numbers from South Carolina’s electric cooperatives here.