POWER RESTORED TO 60 PERCENT OF MEMBERS; SURGE OF WORKERS CONTINUES TUESDAY

PICKENS, South Carolina — More than half of Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative members have now had power restored following the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene.

Since Friday, over 35,000 members have had their power restored. Damage assessments have confirmed over 511 broken poles, leaving approximately 29,126 members without power. This represents 39 percent of our membership.

The number of broken poles we have recorded is devastating. It’s the most we’ve ever recorded in our 84-year history.

Crews from seven states are now on the ground, working tirelessly to assist with restoration efforts. One substation, Crossroads, remains offline due to damage to Duke Energy’s transmission lines. Transmission service to the Tygerville substation was restored this evening. Once Duke’s transmission is restored to Crossroads, Blue Ridge will begin re-energizing members in the affected area.

Significant progress was made today, with restoration completed across multiple areas. Please see the attached restoration overview for specific areas that saw improvement. Approximately 140 workers from Florida are arriving for additional help Tuesday, pushing total people on the job to more than 500.

Below are current outage numbers by county:

Anderson: 4,603

Greenville: 4,060

Oconee: 9,424

Pickens: 10,988

Spartanburg: 43

Regular updates will continue throughout the week.