Power outages begin to decrease in Beaufort County as Tropical Storm Irma moves on

Note: This story was updated at 9 p.m. Monday with the most recent power outage information.

About 21,000 Beaufort County customers were without power as of 9 p.m. Monday as Tropical Storm Irma was leaving the Lowcountry, down from over 37,000 affected customers in the mid-afternoon.

The latest total includes almost 15,000 South Carolina Electric & Gas customers without power, according to the company’s online outage map. Palmetto Electric Cooperative’s outage map was not available at 9 p.m., but an update to the company’s Facebook page around 5:30 p.m. showed nearly 6,000 customers without power.

Most of the SCE&G power outages Monday morning occurred north of the Broad River, the utility said. There were fewer reported SCE&G outages farther south in the county around Bluffton, though the majority of Palmetto Electric’s reported outages occurred on Hilton Head Island.

Palmetto Electric’s remaining outages Monday night lingered due to heavy flooding keeping crews from equipment, according to the company on social media. Crews finished working in Beaufort County Monday night when all but the inaccessible outages were resolved.

It’s unclear when power will be fully restored to the affected areas. Crews from both companies were working throughout the day Monday to assess damage and restore power, according to SCE&G and Palmetto Electric.

The SCE&G outages grew quickly early Monday morning, from about 4,000 Beaufort County customers around 6 a.m. to over 9,400 customers by 7 a.m., according to utility’s outage map.

Approximately 3,000 SCE&G and Palmetto Electric customers in Jasper County were in the dark as of 9 p.m. Monday, while about 2,500 customers of the two utilities in Hampton County were without power.

Emergency personnel on Monday were mainly concerned about power outages, possible storm surge and flooding throughout the county.

Those who want to find out more about power outages in their area can go here.

This story will be updated.

This story was originally published September 11, 2017 at 7:14 AM with the headline "Power outages begin to decrease in Beaufort County as Tropical Storm Irma moves on."