Rainy and thundering night

Electric power outages are reported in Oconee County during a night of rain and thunder.  Lightning hit a tree in Walhalla and a bolt from that lightning penetrated a home on E. Mauldin Street.  No one was hurt.  A motor vehicle accident led to one outage early yesterday afternoon near Salem.  The Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative reported more than 440 customers lost service when a pickup truck flipped a guy wire apparatus across an energized line in the vicinity of Choehee Valley and Tamassee Knob roads.  State troopers reported no injuries, but a charge of driving under the influence resulted from their investigation of the 2 o’clock hour accident.