Author: Dick Mangrum

The City of Seneca is urging citizens to contact our Citizens Hotline for information on disaster assistance. Due to COVID-19 guidelines, the Seneca Fire Department is not allowing citizens visitors to our station as previously announced by some social media outlets. The City of Seneca continues to respond to the tornado event from Monday morning. Debris clearing will continue throughout […]

A spokesman for the U-S Rep. Jeff Duncan says before a federal disaster declaration can be made to help qualify Oconee for federal tax money to help in the tornado recovery.  Rick Atkins, deputy chief of staff for Duncan, says it’s likely that based on the damage the wo of them saw Monday, Duncan will encourage President Trump to sign […]

The country is reporting 22 million unemployed.  A few thousand of them from the Upstate’s tri-counties of Oconee (1,194,) Anderson (3,185,) and Pickens (2,069) were added to the jobless rolls in just one week time. Of particular note are Greenville County’s 10,378 unemployed.  Since the pandemic started, the South Carolina DEW has processed 268,614 claims.  A total of $114 million […]

We are expecting some numbers from Seneca today on the number of outages that remain from Monday’s tornado.  Bob Faires, the utilities superintendent, said at the height of the aftermath five of the eight circuits were disabled.  Crews were able to restore one of those circuits quickly. But, as he put it, “Our system has been laying on the ground.”

“We now have power but are experiencing technical difficulties with our compactor at the transfer station. We are still temporarily not taking commercial trash and will contact you as soon as we fix this issue. Thank you for all of your patience during this week.”

In their Clemson neighborhood, Dot and Bruce Yandle and their home were spared any damage from what hit the area on Monday morning. Like all Americans, the Yandles are trying to stay safe from the virus. But, as an economist, the now retired Bruce Yandle has formed opinion on whether and how to re-start an economy that some people fear […]

United Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) joined House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal. The two members discussed the need for Congress to quickly replenish funds for the Paycheck Protection Program. The announcement from Republican Scott’s office blames their opposition party, claiming that “Congressional Democrats continue to press for revisions that would make […]

As of 6:25 this Thursday morning, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative had 2,641 members remaining without electric service as a result of Monday’s tornado-induced storm emergency. The by-county breakdown: • Anderson 437 • Oconee 2,204 Shortly after dark last evening, repairs were completed on the damaged portion of a transmission line located near the City of Seneca. Cooperative crews then began […]

The wrath of the tornado extended beyond Seneca to include Oconee County communities of Oakway, Earles Grove, and Fair Play. Besides direct damage to homes, the tornado knocked out electric service. Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative achieved success in the Oakway area last night by restoring electric power, and one of its customers there is very grateful to the repair crews […]