FLORENCE, SC (WMBF) - Progress Energy has confirmed that power has been
fully restored in Florence after a weather-related outage that affected nearly
14,000 customers Tuesday evening.
The outage occurred when a pop-up thunderstorm caused significant damage
to two transmission towers in the area, according to Duke Energy media
representation Justin Landon.
Landon said a transmission tower "carries the brunt of the power itself to
other areas. When those are damaged, it affects a lot of customers."
At about 10 p.m., crews had rerouted power from the damaged stations and
service was restored to all but about 5,000 customers, Landon said. Power was
restored to the remaining customers soon after that.
Repairs to the towers will continue throughout the day, Landon said, but he
does expect any more outages.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol reported at least three traffic lights in
the area were malfunctioning, due to outage.
Just after 6:30 p.m., the National Weather Service issued a Severe
Thunderstorm Warning for Dillon, Marlboro and Robeson counties until 7:30 p.m.
Progress Energy customers are reminded to stay away from all power lines. Click
here for more storm safety tips from Progress Energy.
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