Two straight evenings of storms wallop Oconee

Two straight evenings of storms have left Oconeeans picking up the pieces—many of those pieces are limbs and trees that fell into yards and streets. In a fire that broke out during the height of last night’s storm, three adults have been displaced from a home in the Tamassee area. That fire took a heavy toll on Lewin Way in Choehee Valley. Crews from Duke Energy and Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative were a common sight into the evening hours. Duke workers called it a night around midnight, but they will return this morning to restore service where there still is none. Early last night Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative reported 3,683 customers had lost service in its five-county territory. Oconee and Pickens were the worst hit. By 6:25 this morning, 937 Oconee Blue Ridge customers remained without power. The number had dropped to 30 in Pickens County. There’s irony in a statement issued by the Blue Ridge spokesman in the first few minutes of last night’s storm. At 5:50 pm, he said, “The complexion of the outage situation has changed dramatically within just the last few minutes. Crews were on the verge of whittling down the number of members out of power from last (Sunday) evening’s storm to just a handful. Now, a second storm front is making its way across the westernmost portion of the cooperative’s service area and has already produced some major problems.” Westminster was hard hit. Hundreds of that city’s electric power customers lost service. Mayor Brian Ramey said a power line fall, the sparks from which started a field fire.