With more than 8,500 homes and businesses still without power in the Rock Hill region, most likely will have it back soon, as recovery continues from Helene.
By 9 a.m. Monday Duke Energy had 4,162 customers in York County and 96 more in Lancaster County still without power. The estimated time for power to be back up is 5 p.m. Monday. Chester County has another 1,074 customers without power, with an estimated 7 p.m. restoration.
York Electric had 3,155 customers without power Monday morning. That is around 90 percent of its customers with power, said Marc Howie, cooperative vice-president. The cooperative hopes to have 95 percent restored by Tuesday, Howie said. No estimate was available for when all cooperative customers will have service restored. Lancaster and Chester counties had a combined 13 cooperative customers without power.
Rock Hill’s city utility department had 14 power outages impacting 66 customers on Monday morning.
As many as 9,100 Duke Energy customers were without power at 6 p.m. Sunday. York Electric Cooperative had almost 5,000 customers without power.
How to report property damage
York County reported hundreds of trees had fallen down on Friday. Homes and property were damaged, with some injuries reported, according to a storm update from the county.
The York County Emergency Management set up a website for damage reports . The public can report property damage and post pictures from the storm, which will help the county in continued cleanup and recovery efforts.
County public works crews cleared more than 50 roads between Friday and Sunday, some with dozens of trees down along them, according to the county. Debris removal begins Monday.
County trash and recycling collection centers except the one serving Sharon and Hickory Grove towns are open Monday. Centers without power will accept household trash only.
Lake flooding update
Six of the 11 Catawba River lakes remained above their full pond levels on Monday morning. That’s the water level where lakes begin to spill if they continue to rise.
Lake Wylie sits just inches below its full pond. Its nearest upstream lake, Mountain Island Lake, is almost four feet above its full pond. Mountain Island Lake crested Sunday at eight feet above its full pond and will continue to drop for several days, according to a notice from Duke Energy.
Lake Norman came within inches of its full pond, but hasn’t topped it. The headwaters at Lake James rose more than six feet above full pond on Friday. On Monday the lake was almost two feet over full pond, but continues to decline.
Lake Wateree, the southernmost lake on the chain, crested Monday at six feet above its full pond. It’s still five feet over as of 9 a.m. Monday and will take several days to drop, according to Duke Energy.
Running water through the Catawba River and its lakes caused significant flooding in riverine areas, too. Parts of Riverwalk in Rock Hill, including the Pump House restaurant, were underwater. Catawba Park in Tega Cay was also underwater.
Sewage spills from heavy rain
Heavy rains often bring wastewater spills, or sewage spills. Two were reported in the Rock Hill region during Helene.
A no swim advisory was issued for part of Lake Wylie after a Tega Cay manhole overflowed. The 2142 Manawa Lane spill started at 8:45 a.m. on Friday and ran for more than four hours. It released an estimated 8,500 gallons of wastewater. A pump truck was called in to pump out the extra flow, and lime was applied to the area.
Rock Hill had a smaller spill, of an estimated 500 gallons. A manhole near 310 River Road overflowed when a tree fell onto a power line near a treatment plant causing an electric outage. The spill started at 5 a.m. Friday and lasted more than two hours.
Schools shift plans, weather make up days
Some area schools brought children to class Monday, while others planned for makeup days.
Fort Mill and Lancaster County schools opened Monday on normal schedules. Rock Hill, Clover, York and Chester County schools were closed.
Rock Hill wasn’t able to run food service Monday due to power outages at some cafeterias. The school district also mentioned families in the area without power as a reason to close Monday. An e-learning makeup day will be Feb. 17, 2025.
At least six Clover school facilities didn’t have power on Sunday, including three elementary schools and the district office. By mid-Sunday, two elementary schools in York didn’t have power. Both of those districts will make up Monday’s classes with e-learning on Jan. 6, 2025.
Power outages and hazardous road conditions led the Chester County district to close Monday, with a weather makeup planned for Nov. 25.
This is a developing story.
Local News
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