Overnight (electrical power)

By 10:40 last night, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative had 14,505 members without electricity. That’s 840 fewer outages than were registered one hour previous. The by-county breakdown:

Anderson 2,795

Greenville 67

Oconee 10,873

Pickens 770

Spartanburg -0-

Transmission-line specialists are continuing to prepare the new steel poles that will replace the four that were damaged in a direct hit by the tornado earlier today. The goal is to complete that work today, re-energize the transmission line, and restore service to the seven substations that are off line at present. Other crews are still on the job overnight, addressing other outages on the system. With the arrival of fresh crews first thing this morning, further general progress is expected.

Early this morning 123 By-Pass in Seneca was alighted as if it were a Christmas tree, but the same can’t be said for many parts of the city that are approaching 24 hours without electric service. 104 The Lake WSNW remains off air because of the loss of power. By late yesterday afternoon, the county’s wastewater plant on the Return Church Road had no electric power, but operations there were continuing as normal. Chris Eleazer, the director of the Joint Regional Sewer Authority, explained that thanks to generators, the pump stations are able to process wastewater flow.