This afternoon’s scenario as we know it

Lights are on in Bountyland this evening, as a large section of apparent Seneca-served sections appear restored — a large Pike Electric truck seen there.  By 1 this afternoon, Duke Energy counted 723 thousand restored, but about 1.1 million remain unconnected.  And the utility makes this prediction:  nearly all customers OUTSIDE the western parts of the Carolinas should have power restored by 11:59 pm Sunday, September 29, though many will be restored by then.  Duke workers say they continue to face major challenges accessing areas across the Upstate of South Carolina and the North Carolina mountains. In parts of Oconee, where there is no power, you can hear a strong hum — the sound of working generators.  Duke says this about power generators:  “Customers using power generators should turn off generators if they see utility crews in the area.  Excess electricity created by a generator can feed back onto electric lines and lead to severe injuries to line techs.  As far as acquiring a genny at this date, the store manager at the Seneca Tri-County Ace answered the phone today, “Tri-County ACE.  We’re all out of generators.” Here’s a Blue Ridge Electric update from 1:46 pm today:  More than 300 Blue Ridge crew members and outside help are actively restoring power.  Multi-day outages remain as nearly 1 million customers across the 11-county Upstate region were still without service by the noon hour today.  According to Blue Ridge, “We ask that our members not approach our crews to provide them with the space they need to return service safely.  Progress is being made.  We will continue to provide updates today.