Thunderstorm causes Hilton Head fire, knocks out power to thousands in Beaufort

Wednesday night’s storm took down trees, knocked out power for thousands and displaced a few families in Beaufort County.

SCE&G reported about 4,600 outages in Beaufort County on Wednesday night. All SCE&G outages in Beaufort County were resolved by Thursday afternoon, based on the outage map on the company’s website.

But there was more trouble than power outages from the storm.

Just before 7 p.m., lightning struck an Oglethorpe Lane home on Hilton Head Island, causing a fire, Hilton Head Island Fire & Rescue Fire Marshal Joheida Fister said. There was “extensive” damage to the attic, but everyone was able to get out in time and no one was injured, she said. The fire was put out after about an hour.

Two Beaufort families were displaced after a downed power pole cut off their power and ripped the meter from the side of one of the homes, Beaufort Fire Department Chief Reece Bertholf said. The pole at Lafayette and Morris streets broke in multiple places and pulled the wire down with it.

Wind downed trees across the road a few houses down on Lafayette Street, he said. Other trees were also down in the Jericho Woods apartments on Boundary Street and on Wilson Drive.

In Burton, a tree fell onto a Pinegrove Road home, Burton Fire District spokesman Dan Byrne said. There were no injuries and minor damage to the property, he said.

Lady’s and St. Helena islands experienced strong winds that downed trees on private property but no major incidents, Lady’s Island-St. Helena Fire District spokesman Scott Harris said.

The few trees downed in Bluffton were cleared by morning, Bluffton Township Fire District Capt. Randy Hunter said.

This story was originally published July 7, 2016 at 10:06 AM with the headline "Thunderstorm causes Hilton Head fire, knocks out power to thousands in Beaufort."