Crews were still assessing the damage and in some cases needed to cut their way through debris just to determine what was left standing.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Power outages in South Carolina have dropped but there is much more work to be done to restore power in South Carolina.
As of Sunday night were a little over 818,000 outages in South Carolina, according to PowerOutage.us, a website that collects data from multiple utility websites. At it's peak Friday morning, there were almost 1.4 million, which meant over 40 percent of the state had no electricity.
The outages were the highest of any state affected by Hurricane Helene, including Florida, where the storm made landfall, and Georgia, where it moved next. There is some context to those numbers: much of the area Helene tore through in those states is very rural. In South Carolina, however, it knocked out virtually all the power in the densely populated counties of Greenville and Spartanburg, as well as significant outages in the areas around the capitol of Columbia, including Richland and Lexington Counties.
On Sunday night, Dominion Energy, the largest power provider in the Midlands, gave an update on how long it would to restore each county to 95 percent of customers restored. For some counties, that date was Sunday night; for others, that date could be Thursday or Friday.
Here's the full county-county list from Dominion:
County | Estimated Time of 95% Restoration
Abbeville | Damage assessments in progress
Aiken | Damage assessments in progress
Allendale | Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m.
Bamberg | Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m.
Barnwell | Wednesday, Oct. 2, 11 p.m.
Beaufort | Tuesday, Oct. 1, 11 p.m. Due to the extreme damage and access constraints on Daufuskie Island, restoration times will be provided when available.
Berkeley | Sunday, Sept. 29, 11 p.m.
Calhoun | Sunday, Sept. 29, 11 p.m.
Charleston | Sunday, Sept. 29, 11 p.m.
Colleton | Monday, Sept. 30, 11 p.m.
Dorchester | Sunday, Sept. 29, 11 p.m.
Edgefield | Damage assessments in progress
Fairfield | Friday, Oct. 4, 11 p.m.
Greenwood | Damage assessments in progress
Hampton | Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m.
Jasper | Wednesday, Oct. 2, 11 p.m.
Kershaw | Sunday, Sept. 29, 11 p.m.
Lexington | Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m.
McCormick | Damage assessments in progress
Newberry | Wednesday, Oct. 2, 11 p.m.
Orangeburg | Sunday, Sept. 29, 11 p.m.
Richland | Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m.
Saluda | Damage assessments in progress
Union | Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m.
"We have to restore transmission," Dominion Energy South Carolina President Keller Kissam said Sunday. "Then we have to restore the substations. Those are the fence thin areas with the breakers that bring energy to your subdivision. Then we'll focus on the main feeders and we'll get the filling stations, the restaurants, the grocery stores back to turn people's lives back to normal. And then when we finish with that, we'll get down into the neighborhoods as well to get everybody back on."
Kissam said crews will be working 24 hours a day. "I assure you we will not stop working until the last South Carolinian has their power restored," he added.
Rob Hostelter, CEO of Central Electric Power Cooperative, said the electric co-ops, which serve many rural parts of the state, got hit hard, with just under half of all customers statewide losing electricity.
He likened the effort and priority of repairs to highways, where the transmission system is the interstate, and power substations are the exit ramps that then lead to the local neighborhoods.
"So we've got to get the interstate--the transmission system--running and then the delivery points back up," Hostelter said.
He said some employees who'd been with the company for 40 years--and who remember Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and the ice storm of 2014--called this the most destructive storm they've ever seen. "It's substantial, it's bad," Hostelter said.
Gov. Henry McMaster said the storm moved east of where it was forecastand gave the state a bigger blow than expected.
“We urge everybody to be patient and keep your neighbors in your prayers,” McMaster said.
POWER COMPANIES
Dominion Energy: The company says the fastest and most secure way to report or track an outage is using the Dominion Energy app, which is free in the Apple and Google Play stores. Customers may also report outages by going to DominionEnergy.com or calling 800-251-7234.
Duke Energy
Phone: 800.543.5599
Click here for online reporting system
Orangeburg DPU:
Phone: 803-268-4100
South Carolina Electric Cooperative's Outage Map:
Aiken Electric Cooperative
1-877-264-5368
1-803-649-6245
1-800-922-1262
Berkeley Electric Cooperative
1-888-253-4232
Black River Electric Cooperative
Sumter- 1-803-469-8060
Camden- 1-803-432-9854
Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative
1-888-258-3743
Broad River Electric Cooperative
Cherokee County- 1-864-489-5738
Other Counties- 1-866-266-7688
Coastal Electric Cooperative
1-843-538-5800
Edisto Electric Cooperative
1-800-433-3292
Fairfield Electric Cooperative
1-800-499-7862
Horry Electric Cooperative
1-843-369-2212
Laurens Electric Cooperative
1-800-942-3141
Little River Electric Cooperative
1-800-459-2141 or 366-2141
Lynches River Electric Cooperative
1-866-675-5732
Marlboro Electric Cooperative
1-843-479-38551-800-922-9174
Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperative
1-803-749-6444
1-888-813-7000
Newberry Electric Cooperative
1-803-276-1121
Palmetto Electric Cooperative
1-866-445-5551
Pee Dee Electric Cooperative
1-843-665-4070
1-866-747-0060
Santee Electric Cooperative
1-888-239-2300
Tri-County Electric Cooperative
1-803-874-1215
1-877-874-1215
York Electric Cooperative
1-866-374-1234