Around 11,000 without power in Beaufort Co. as Hurricane Dorian brings wind, rain
Around 11,000 people are experiencing power outages Thursday afternoon as Hurricane Hurricane Dorian brings rain and wind to Beaufort and Jasper counties, according to outage maps from Dominion Energy and Palmetto Electric.
Palmetto Electric, which services most of Bluffton and Hilton Head Island, reported two customers without power on Hilton Head Thursday afternoon. Earlier that morning, around 6,000 customers were affected.
The outages on the island are centered around Palmetto Dunes mid-island, according to the map. Crews were dispatched to both of the outages in Palmetto Dunes.
Palmetto Electric spokesman Tray Hunter said that the Hilton Head Island outages were caused by a downed tree mid-island, near Shipyard Plantation.
In Bluffton, there are smaller outages around the Cherry Point neighborhood.
As of 9:25 a.m., the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office reported that electric crews were working to restore power.
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Dominion Energy is reporting around 149 power outages affecting around 11,000 customers Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m., down from around 17,000 earlier that morning. Most are in the City of Beaufort and the north end of St. Helena Island.
Nearly every outage’s cause is listed as Hurricane Dorian, according to the map. Most do not have an expected repair time.
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Hurricane Dorian regained its status as a Category 3 storm Wednesday night, according to reports from Weather Nation.
Other effects of the storm
Through 5:30 a.m., there were around 15 reports of downed trees across the county.
At 3 p.m. Wednesday, a 20-foot tree fell near Port Royal Plantation on Hilton Head Island, blocking two eastbound lanes of U.S. 278.
The tree was quickly removed from the road as fire crews took a chainsaw to the trunk and vines surrounding the branches.
At least six downed trees were reported in Bluffton before 9 p.m., including one in the parking lot of The Crowne apartments.
The other five were “easily cleared,” said Bluffton Township Fire Capt. Lee Levesque. “The biggest tree took a maximum of 10 minutes because (firefighters) had to cut it twice.”
In the northern part of the county, a downed tree was reported on St. Helena Island on a dead-end road, said Maj. Bob Bromage, public information officer for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
As of 8 p.m., Fripp Island was experiencing wind gusts of 54 mph, the Weather Channel reported.
But emergency calls were light early in the evening. Beaufort-Port Royal Fire Department had reported only five storm-related calls as of 8:30 p.m.
At 10 p.m., the Hilton Head Island call center got a trio of calls of downed trees at Gum Tree Road, Wild Horse Road and Ridgewood Lane in Sea Pines. Crews responded to the downed trees, all three of which were blocking roads.
Crews were unable to clear the tree at Gum Tree Road because it was tangled in two other trees, according to Hilton Head Fire Rescue.
Overnight, Hilton Head Fire got three more calls about downed trees — one which was completely blocking Marshland Road. It has been taped off by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
At 6 a.m., the Hilton Head Island Airport was reporting 36 mph sustained winds and 58 mph gusts.
This story was originally published September 4, 2019 at 11:19 PM.
