Port Royal’s power restored after morning traffic accident takes out most of it

There are nearly 1,500 power outages being reported in Beaufort County Sunday morning after a traffic accident that took out a power pole in Port Royal, according to South Carolina Electric and Gas and the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

Of the 69,467 customers served in the outage area, which includes Beaufort, Hampton and Ridgeland, 1,448 were affected around 9 a.m. according to the SCE&G website.

By 2:20 p.m. the number of outages in the affected area had dropped to 1, and that was not tied to the accident, as repairs to the damage caused by it have concluded according to Lt. Andre Massey, spokesman for the Port Royal Police Department.

Massey also said that Ribaut Road’s southbound lanes have reopened and that the northbound lanes should be open by 3 p.m. Sunday.

A news release issued by the City of Beaufort/Town of Port Royal Fire Department said that the accident, which involved a red 2005 Dodge Dakota, happened around 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

The release says the truck hit a “major utility pole” located directly across the street from a Port Royal fire station. The pole was broken at the base, and power lines were knocked down. This disabled power to most of Port Royal, according to the fire department release.

The driver was uninjured according to the release, and had already gotten out of the vehicle by the time first responders arrived.

According to Massey, alcohol was not a factor in the accident and the driver said that they nodded off and hit the pole.

This story was originally published November 12, 2017 at 8:12 AM with the headline "Port Royal’s power restored after morning traffic accident takes out most of it."