Power expected to be restored to all Polk/Landrum residents Thursday

LANDRUM — As Landrum Mayor Bob Briggs said, “It’s been an extraordinary couple of days.”

Area residents have not seen snow and ice and power outages like Sunday’s Winter Storm Diego since the Blizzard of 1993.

Duke Energy told local officials Wednesday night that power should be restored to everyone in the area by Thursday.

As of 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Duke Energy was down to 15 outages and 209 customers without service in Polk County. Duke officials said they hoped to have restored as many as possible Wednesday night and expected to complete restoration on Thursday.

There were 10,000 Duke Energy customers who lost power during the storm, which hit the area late Saturday through Sunday morning and dumped 6 to almost 20 inches of snow and ice in the area. Saluda saw the most snow in the area, at an estimated 18.5 inches.

As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, Duke Energy reported 88 events and 1,380 customers still without service in Polk County. There were 4,624 customers without power Monday and 8,522 on Sunday. Those figures do not include REA Energy, which also provides service in Polk County.

Duke Energy on Tuesday said the remaining outages were mainly in the Tryon, Columbus and McGinnis Crossroads area of the county.

The Landrum City Council met Tuesday and heard from department heads about the storm.

Mayor Briggs thanked everyone who has helped. He said the city has cut down a lot of trees.

“Obviously we’ve had a little snow,” said Landrum Fire Chief Warren Ashmore. “Duke Power is doing everything they can. People just need to be patient. One of those things is keeping their guys safe.”

Ashmore said all roads should be passable and if they are not, it means there is a downed power line. He said fire departments do not cut trees on power lines because it is unsafe.

He also said the fire department has been doing welfare checks and providing drinking water for people in need.

Ashmore said there was one family the fire department dug out so they could go get groceries.

“We’ve got neighbors,” he said. “And we’ve got to look out for our neighbors. It comes down to us taking care of one another. If you know anybody who has a need, call us.”