Rep. Neal Collins is updating his constituents in Easley multiple times a day. Here’s the update from 7pm
7pm update
Duke Update:
As of 1 p.m. on Saturday, Duke Energy has restored power to 723,000 Carolinas customers impacted by Helene. This includes more than 544,000 customers in North Carolina and 178,000 in South Carolina.
Approximately 1.1 million customers – 539,000 in North Carolina and 597,000 in South Carolina – remain without power. The vast majority of these outages are in the western portions of each state.
The company serves more than 4.5 million customers in the Carolinas, including 3.7 million in North Carolina and 835,500 in South Carolina.
Easley Combined Update:
Please understand that this will be a several day event for many people. Meaning- power will be off for quite some time… plan on it. The crews are out working (see areas listed below).
Here’s some quick notes to hopefully help answer some questions:
1. We are working from big to little. Substation to Circuit to Secondary. Substations are good (with one exception- see #3), Working on circuits now (we had 12 circuits off this morning, and we are down to 8 circuits down). Secondary will be next- after the circuits are on. This may explain why your circuit is on (your neighbor down the street), but you are not. Secondary is taking a while.
2. Crews are the working the following areas currently:
a. Circuits near Olive St/ Pace Valley Rd/ Northview/Lenhardt Grove etc.- working to have on tonight- if everything goes as planned.
b. Circuits near Laurel Rd/ 2 Bros/ Zaxby’s- working to have on tonight- if everything goes as planned.
c. Belk/Landscapers Supplies/Cedar- working to have on tonight- if everything goes as planned.
d. Crestview Rd area- working on having on tonight- if everything goes as planned.
e. Saluda Dam Rd- working on having on tonight- if everything goes as planned.
Note: Just because these are the areas are working, the secondary lines may still be a mess, and you may not get restored when the circuit comes up.
3. Dacusville/and north of the Hospital: Crews are working in your area- however, the substation that feeds that area is served by Duke Transmission. Duke’s transmission line coming into the substation needs to be repaired. Duke’s system overall, like all of us, is a mess- so we cannot light up the circuits (once repaired itself) until they energize it.
4. Some have asked what they can do to help:
a. Please be patient. We’ve never seen this amount of damage. Our crews are incredible, but there’s only so much they can do. Most of our sister utilities are seeking help as well- we’re all in bad shape. Patience is tough but appreciated immensely.
b. Our phone system is down. We have no clue when it will be up- unfortunately- this is the best form of communication we can offer at the time. With the phone system, our maps are down as well. So, the map you access on line is not painting a clear picture. We are looking for alternatives on this.
c. If the crews are working, please do not interrupt, yell obscenities, or ask questions. Important they stay focused for safety and efficiency.
d. Stay off the road! Traffic is awful, and it’s making everything tougher.
We still have approximately 8,500 customers still without power.
One last message:
The storm was worse than awful, we’re doing the best we can, we have accepted all available help from outside organizations, we are making sure we have enough supplies, and we will continue to work as hard as humanly possible. It’s tough on everyone- we’re used to having the power on. Let’s do practice some good humanity with each other- we will eventually get through this.
Blue Ridge Co-Op update:
Power has been restored to over 11,000 members in the last 24 hours as the multi-day restoration and rebuild efforts continue at Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative.
Crews will continue to work into the evening and overnight to restore services. To contextualize some of the damage we have assessed in the last 36 hours, we have provided an update on the confirmed number of broken poles in our system.
On average, it takes a four-man crew about 3-4 hours to replace one broken pole. We have found 289 broken poles from Tropical Storm Helene, and our engineers estimate this number will grow significantly.
For additional context, Blue Ridge replaced 180 new poles for Hurricane Irma in 2017 and 240 new poles in 2020 when an EF3 tornado ripped through Seneca.
Replacing three poles over a 12-hour shift is a full day’s work for a single crew. Replacing four is a feat in these circumstances. These are not simple repairs.
OUTAGE STATUS
As of 5:30 p.m., an estimated 69 percent of our members (approximately 50,096 in total) remain without service. Approximately 61,600 members were without power at this time yesterday.
This is down from a peak of 90 percent of members not having power. More service will be restored throughout tonight and tomorrow.
Below are specific outage numbers by county (for Blue Ridge):
Anderson: 6,718
Greenville: 5,538
Oconee: 16,892
Pickens: 20,748
Spartanburg: 43
Personal:
I keep fielding phone calls of upset constituents driving as far as Walhalla for ice only to be told by gas stations that football fans bought them out.
I was just informed of an elderly man in Easley on oxygen die walking back from his neighbor’s generator to recharge his oxygen.
These calls are why I take things personally.
On a positive note, our neighborhood got power at 5pm. Thank you, Duke & linemen.
7pm update
Duke Update:
As of 1 p.m. on Saturday, Duke Energy has restored power to 723,000 Carolinas customers impacted by Helene. This includes more than 544,000 customers in North Carolina and 178,000 in South Carolina.
Approximately 1.1 million customers – 539,000 in North Carolina and 597,000 in South Carolina – remain without power. The vast majority of these outages are in the western portions of each state.
The company serves more than 4.5 million customers in the Carolinas, including 3.7 million in North Carolina and 835,500 in South Carolina.
Easley Combined Update:
Please understand that this will be a several day event for many people. Meaning- power will be off for quite some time… plan on it. The crews are out working (see areas listed below).
Here’s some quick notes to hopefully help answer some questions:
1. We are working from big to little. Substation to Circuit to Secondary. Substations are good (with one exception- see #3), Working on circuits now (we had 12 circuits off this morning, and we are down to 8 circuits down). Secondary will be next- after the circuits are on. This may explain why your circuit is on (your neighbor down the street), but you are not. Secondary is taking a while.
2. Crews are the working the following areas currently:
a. Circuits near Olive St/ Pace Valley Rd/ Northview/Lenhardt Grove etc.- working to have on tonight- if everything goes as planned.
b. Circuits near Laurel Rd/ 2 Bros/ Zaxby’s- working to have on tonight- if everything goes as planned.
c. Belk/Landscapers Supplies/Cedar- working to have on tonight- if everything goes as planned.
d. Crestview Rd area- working on having on tonight- if everything goes as planned.
e. Saluda Dam Rd- working on having on tonight- if everything goes as planned.
Note: Just because these are the areas are working, the secondary lines may still be a mess, and you may not get restored when the circuit comes up.
3. Dacusville/and north of the Hospital: Crews are working in your area- however, the substation that feeds that area is served by Duke Transmission. Duke’s transmission line coming into the substation needs to be repaired. Duke’s system overall, like all of us, is a mess- so we cannot light up the circuits (once repaired itself) until they energize it.
4. Some have asked what they can do to help:
a. Please be patient. We’ve never seen this amount of damage. Our crews are incredible, but there’s only so much they can do. Most of our sister utilities are seeking help as well- we’re all in bad shape. Patience is tough but appreciated immensely.
b. Our phone system is down. We have no clue when it will be up- unfortunately- this is the best form of communication we can offer at the time. With the phone system, our maps are down as well. So, the map you access on line is not painting a clear picture. We are looking for alternatives on this.
c. If the crews are working, please do not interrupt, yell obscenities, or ask questions. Important they stay focused for safety and efficiency.
d. Stay off the road! Traffic is awful, and it’s making everything tougher.
We still have approximately 8,500 customers still without power.
One last message:
The storm was worse than awful, we’re doing the best we can, we have accepted all available help from outside organizations, we are making sure we have enough supplies, and we will continue to work as hard as humanly possible. It’s tough on everyone- we’re used to having the power on. Let’s do practice some good humanity with each other- we will eventually get through this.
Blue Ridge Co-Op update:
Power has been restored to over 11,000 members in the last 24 hours as the multi-day restoration and rebuild efforts continue at Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative.
Crews will continue to work into the evening and overnight to restore services. To contextualize some of the damage we have assessed in the last 36 hours, we have provided an update on the confirmed number of broken poles in our system.
On average, it takes a four-man crew about 3-4 hours to replace one broken pole. We have found 289 broken poles from Tropical Storm Helene, and our engineers estimate this number will grow significantly.
For additional context, Blue Ridge replaced 180 new poles for Hurricane Irma in 2017 and 240 new poles in 2020 when an EF3 tornado ripped through Seneca.
Replacing three poles over a 12-hour shift is a full day’s work for a single crew. Replacing four is a feat in these circumstances. These are not simple repairs.
OUTAGE STATUS
As of 5:30 p.m., an estimated 69 percent of our members (approximately 50,096 in total) remain without service. Approximately 61,600 members were without power at this time yesterday.
This is down from a peak of 90 percent of members not having power. More service will be restored throughout tonight and tomorrow.
Below are specific outage numbers by county (for Blue Ridge):
Anderson: 6,718
Greenville: 5,538
Oconee: 16,892
Pickens: 20,748
Spartanburg: 43
Personal:
I keep fielding phone calls of upset constituents driving as far as Walhalla for ice only to be told by gas stations that football fans bought them out.
I was just informed of an elderly man in Easley on oxygen die walking back from his neighbor’s generator to recharge his oxygen.
These calls are why I take things personally.
On a positive note, our neighborhood got power at 5pm. Thank you, Duke & linemen.
