Dominion Energy, SCEMD provide recap on weekend weather response

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Local officials with Dominion Energy and the SC Emergency Management Division say weekend weather conditions across the Midlands were less severe than initially expected.

Matt Long with Dominion Energy says crews responded to around 2,400 outages for their entire service territory late Sunday evening into Monday morning.

“We had some scattered outages here in the Columbia area, but fortunately it was something that our crews were able to get back restored for most customers fairly quickly,” Long says.

Counties in the Upstate took a much larger hit, says SCEMD Chief of Staff Steven Batson. According to poweroutage.us, Pickens and Oconee Counties still show thousands without power.

“Downed trees and power lines are our greatest concern. We saw some of that. Our outages peaked as much as 46 to 48,000 businesses without power, and those are already starting to come down. Some of our roads were impacted and even in the upstate some of our secondary roads still have snow and ice,” says Batson.

And another cold week is ahead.

“Things look awfully nice outside right now, but the temperatures are gonna plummet tonight, so we are concerned about the cold temperatures so making sure folks are prepared for the cold weather that’s coming is critical,” says Batson.

That means having emergency supplies at home including food, water, medicine, and extra blankets should loss of power or heat occur.

“There’s a lot of resources out there that can help, whether it’s our SCEMD website, or our mobile app, it has a lot of information that can assist. We also have a winter weather guide that’s packed full of information on what people can do,” says Batson.

Long recommends keeping your thermostat on 68 degrees, or at least a few degrees cooler, to prevent your furnace from overworking itself.

“Each degree difference is a little less harder that your furnace will have to work to keep your home heated,” says Long.

Batson reminds everyone to check on neighbors and loved ones to make sure they have a back-up plan as well.

“Staying informed is one of the key components. Understanding what is coming, and knowing what you can do to be prepared,” says Batson.

Be sure to stay tuned to ABC Columbia — John, Tyler, and Gerald will bring you the latest up-to-date conditions.