Power crews in Beaufort Co. prepare for potential outages during Tropical Storm Debby

Palmetto Electric Cooperative, which serves 53,000 residential and business customers south of the Broad River, including all of Hilton Head, the 278 corridor, Okatie and Sun City, is closely monitoring Tropical Storm Debby and any potential power outages that could happen as a result. As of 3:45 p.m. Monday, there were no reported outages, according to the cooperative’s power outage map .

Dominion Energy South Carolina serves 60,000 customers in Beaufort County and 10,000 customers across Jasper County. According to their outage map , there were also no reported outages Monday afternoon.

Between 1:00 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. Monday, there were only minimal outages with up to 800 customers affected. Those outages were quickly recovered.

Tray Hunter, the vice president of marketing and public relations at the cooperative, said that anyone who experiences an outage in the next few days should report it. Never assume that a neighbor has already reported the outage, Hunter said.

How to report an outage and where to check for power interruptions

• If you have power from Palmetto Electric call 866-445-5551 or check their site here. Customers can also report using their Palmetto Cooperative app.
• If you get power from Dominion Energy call 800-251-7234 for outages 888-333-4465 and for fallen power lines or check their site here for regional outages. You can also report outages using the Dominion Energy app.
  
  

Hunter said that in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Matthew, the cooperative identified equipment that flooded during that period and have since elevated the equipment to try and prevent future disruptions due to high water. However, flood-prone areas might still be at risk for outages, he said.

Local cooperative crews are preparing to respond to outages area until weather conditions become “too bad,” which means that the sustained wind gust becomes unsafe for crew members working in bucket trucks. Transporting equipment across bridges also becomes hazardous in storms of this magnitude, Hunter said. If the cooperative need additional assistance, they plan on bringing in crews from other cooperatives in South Carolina and from neighboring states.

Dominion Energy has contracted 200 additional crew members from out of state to mobilize along the coast, said Paul Fischer, a spokesperson for the energy company’s South Carolina division. He said that these additional crew members would be assisting in areas where anticipated impacts are the most severe.

“It takes just one pine tree to fall on a transmission line, and you could have five, ten thousand folks out,” Hunter said. “Storms like this could create minimal outages or it could create large outages.” Either way, Hunter said the cooperative is preparing for worst case scenario.

Heavy rains create unique challenges for energy companies, said Fischer. Once the soil is saturated, tree root systems loosen up, which can lead to trees falling and taking down power lines and poles.

The key, Hunter said, is to be prepared. He recommends charging battery banks and flashlights, finding fresh batteries, keeping fridges and freezers closed as long as possible and using generators safely and outside. Hunter said to avoid fallen power lines and transformers, since the electric equipment can stay live. Instead, he said to report those incidents to the cooperative.