Power outages persist in Beaufort and Jasper counties post-Hurricane Helene
After Hurricane Helene swept through Beaufort County Thursday night, crews are still working to restore power to about 17% of Beaufort County and about 44% of Jasper County residents.
As of 1 p.m. Saturday, about 20,000 residents in Beaufort County and about 8,200 residents in Jasper County who use Dominion Energy and Palmetto Electric Cooperative remain without power, adding to the total of about 1 million people across South Carolina without electricity. In the county and nearby county, the number of residents without power has decreased by about 23,000 customers since 1 p.m. Friday.
“We’re continuing to evaluate damage throughout Beaufort and Jasper counties,” Paul Fischer, a Dominion Energy spokesperson, said. “So, while some areas may be restored more quickly, areas where we are rebuilding our infrastructure and completely replacing poles and lines with new infrastructure, those areas are going to take a little longer.”
There is no estimated time when power will be restored to the remaining customers, both Fischer and Palmetto Electric’s spokesperson Tray Hunter said.
Out of the 116,000 customers tracked in Beaufort County, about 19,700 are without power. Dominion Energy tracks about 61,000 customers, with about 19,400 of them experiencing outages mostly in Port Royal, Bluffton, Lady’s Island, St. Helena and Fripp Island, Fischer said. Palmetto Electric Cooperative tracks about 54,600 customers, and about 168 of them are without power mostly in the Okatie and greater Bluffton area, Hunter said.
In Jasper County, there are around 18,700 tracked customers, with about 8,000 without power. Dominion Energy serves around 10,000 customers in Jasper County, with about 4,700 of them experiencing outages. Palmetto Electric Cooperative tracks about 8,000 customers, with around 3,500 without power. Most of the outages are spread out across the county, Hunter said.
During a statewide Helene update at 2 p.m. Friday, Gov. Henry McMaster said there were possibly more power outages from Helene than any other storm in recent history. He urged residents to exercise patience with getting power restored.
This story was originally published September 28, 2024 at 1:35 PM.
