Updated: Aug. 8, 2 p.m.
Electric cooperatives in North Carolina reported a peak of 28,000 power outages Thursday as Tropical Storm Debby’s relentless rains flooded roads and strong winds blew trees into power lines after the storm made landfall for the second time this week.
Debby was spinning out over the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday, but the storm came ashore again near Bulls Bay, South Carolina, early Thursday.
Co-op crews cut the number of outages nearly in half in just a few hours, with North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives’ online outage map showing the number of co-op consumer-members without power at 14,800 by early Thursday afternoon. The slow-moving storm was expected to continue to drench North Carolina until late Thursday or Friday.
“Cooperatives are based in communities they serve,” said Nelle Hotchkiss, senior vice president and chief operating officer for the statewide association. “This means they are local to the area and can swiftly respond to power disruptions that occur. As soon as it is safe, cooperative line crews roll out and begin the power restoration process.”
The North Carolina co-ops reporting the highest number of outages Thursday afternoon were EnergyUnited in Statesville with about 5,000, Lumbee River Electric Membership Corp. in Pembroke with about 2,500 and Piedmont Electric Membership Corp. in Hillsborough with about 1,900.
Debby initially made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane before spreading into Georgia as a tropical storm later that day and then into South Carolina for the first time on Tuesday. The storm caused more than 250,000 power outages for co-op consumer-members in those three states early this week.
Florida co-ops had restored power to a majority of their consumer-members by Thursday despite flooded roads and the risk posed from rising rivers and ocean tides. Outside contractors and mutual aid crews from Arkansas and Alabama co-ops rushed in to help some local co-op crews.
Tri-County Electric Cooperative in Madison lost power to 19,421 of its 20,100 meters immediately after Debby struck its territory Monday. By Thursday, that number had dropped to about 1,900.
“Access to some locations will take additional time due to flooding, but we have brought in special equipment that will allow us to continue with the repairs as needed,” said Kaitlynn Culpepper, the co-op’s community relations director.
At Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative in Live Oak, the hurricane knocked out power to 27,714 meters, representing 96% of the co-op’s system, said Christy Tuckey, the co-op’s communications and public relations specialist. By Thursday morning, the number of outages had dropped to about 1,900.
“The remaining repairs require the same amount of time and effort from crews, with fewer meters restored per outage, often making these final stages of the restoration process the most frustrating for those still awaiting power,” said SVEC CEO Mike McWaters.
“However, we want to assure those people we have not forgotten them. We greatly appreciate our members’ patience, support, and understanding as we make this final push to restore power for our community.”
Talquin Electric Cooperative in Quincy lost power to 21,500 meters on Monday—over a third of its system. By Tuesday night, the co-op had fully restored power, spokeswoman Samantha Jessee said.
At the height of the storm, Debby knocked out power to 50,000 meters at Clay Electric Cooperative, which is based in Keystone Heights. By Wednesday afternoon, at least 98% of co-op members had power, said spokesman Nick Jones.
“Frustrating is a good word to describe Debby and this particular restoration process,” he said. “In more than one instance, a crew would fix a feeder, and that feeder would go down again—along with one or two more.”
Central Florida Electric Cooperative in Chiefland initially lost power to 21,049 numbers but had restored power to 97% of its meters by Thursday morning.
SECO Energy in Sumterville lost power to 37,000 of its 244,000 meters when Debby blew in, but all outages had been restored as of midnight Monday, said spokeswoman Amanda Richardson.
Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative in Dade City had also restored all of its 38,000 initial outages by Tuesday. The co-op serves about 260,400 members.
In Georgia, the number of outages at the state’s co-ops had plummeted from a peak of 43,000 on Monday evening to about 640 by Thursday afternoon. The bulk of the outages occurred in Colquitt Electric Membership Corp.’s territory, mostly in the Valdosta area, according to Georgia EMC.
At Okefenoke REMC in Nahunta, which serves six Georgia counties and two Florida counties, outages fluctuated at around 3,300 between noon and 7 p.m. Monday, said Michele Hutchins, the co-op’s director of communications and marketing. All outages had been restored as of Wednesday.
In South Carolina, Berkeley Electric Cooperative in Moncks Corner near Charleston reported just two meters—out of more than 130,000—without power by Thursday afternoon, despite Debby hitting South Carolina for a second time. The co-op had 8,100 outages on Tuesday.
Overall, South Carolina’s co-ops reported a total of about 3,100 meters without power on Thursday afternoon.
Much of Berkeley Electric’s service area is vulnerable to flooding, especially during high tide, said Libby Roerig, the co-op’s director of marketing and communications.
“Berkeley Electric has invested in the resilience of its system and upgraded and relocated key pieces of equipment that were susceptible to flooding during a historic flood in 2015 and hurricanes Matthew and Irma,” she said. “We provided sand for sandbags to our members at each of our four district offices starting Sunday afternoon.”
But no co-op can prepare for everything.
“A snake in one of our substations was undoubtedly looking for higher ground and knocked out about 3,300 services,” she said.
Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.