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Duke, Black River bring in help to restore power
Sumter’s groceries begin to reopen BY IVY MOORE ivy@theitem.com You want a hot, freshly cooked meal after subsisting on peanut butter sandwiches or tuna and crackers. Even though Hurricane Matthew has passed, many people and businesses still have no electricity. Most restaurants are closed or are so crowded, the wait is very long. People who do have power often have no fresh or frozen food and no place to get any. That situation is rapidly changing, as local grocery stores are slowly reopening, after having lost most of their perishables. A survey of Sumter’s grocery stores showed several locations where hungry residents can purchase the items necessary to restock their own refrigerators and freezers in order to prepare a home-cooked meal. Store Manager Teresa Singleton at Food Lion on U.S. 15 South in the Pocalla Crossing Shopping Center said the store is “completely up.” “When we realized we might lose power, we started moving all our frozen foods into our freezers, which are at -10 degrees. The other (Food Lion) stores were already out, so we decided we’d better take steps. Our power went out at 12:30 p.m.
SEE GROCERIES, PAGE A4
KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
A Sumter firefighter works to remove a tree which struck a home on Indigo Drive on Saturday morning after Hurricane Matthew.
Nearly half a million people were without power across state Monday BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com During a news conference on Monday, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said residents throughout the state continue to have power restored after more than 800,000 people lost electricity during Hurricane Matthew last weekend. She said there are about 473,570 people who are still without power as of about 1 p.m. Monday. Ryan Mosier, communications director for Duke Energy, said shortly before noon on Monday 119,000 customers were without power in South Carolina — including about 26,800 in Sumter, Lee and Clarendon counties. On Sunday, Duke Energy started assessing the damage and then sent out personnel to begin repairs and restoration, he said. Mosier said personnel have worked hard to restore power to about 31,000 customers in the state. According Duke Energy’s website, progress-energy.com, about 5,590 of 6,187 customers in Clarendon County are without power. In Sumter County, an estimated
RICK CARPENTER / THE SUMTER ITEM
Rod D’Entremont, a lineman for K-Line Construction of New Brunswick, Canada, repairs lines on Calhoun Street on Monday. 17,580 of 30,791 customers are without power, and about 3,640 of 5,614 customers in Lee County do not have power. The estimated restoration date is
Oct. 16 for all three counties. Mosier said power may be restored to some customers before that date. Oct. 16 is the latest that power will be restored, he said. He said the power company has sustained significant damage to its system as a result of Hurricane Matthew. All aspects of the company’s distribution system are being assessed, he said, and they are using helicopters to view major transmission and distribution lines. On Monday, Duke Energy set up a base camp of sorts in Sumter at Caterpillar Inc. on Jefferson Road. Mosier said Duke is also receiving assistance from personnel outside of the Carolinas, as far as Canada, to restore power throughout the state. “You’ll see a lot of trucks that don’t have the Duke Energy logo,” he said. Black River Electric Coop. Communications Director Brenda Chase said there are about 10,000 of 33,000 customers in Sumter, Clarendon, Lee and Kershaw counties who did not have power on Monday.
About 150 people, including Clarendon County residents, evacuees from South Carolina’s coast and stranded motorists were
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staying at the American Red Cross shelter at Manning High School on Monday. All had been affected in some way by Hurricane Matthew. Maxie Meyers, a Clarendon County resident, said
he was lucky to make it out alive after a 100-year-old oak tree fell and destroyed his mobile home during Saturday’s 40 mph winds. “I had just gotten up to shut a door that had blown open when the tree fell,” he said. “If I hadn’t gotten up,
I would have been killed.” Meyers injured his arm in the incident, knocked out a window and climbed out of his home. A neighbor took him into his home to help him.
SEE SHELTER, PAGE A6
SEE CLARENDON, PAGE A6
SEE OUTAGES, PAGE A6
DEATHS, B4 Gloria L. Williams Kam Dexter Coleman Beavely Sue C. Tummillo Lawrence Alan Brown Richard A. Lamer Emmy S. Palka
BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com About 16,900 homes, businesses and government buildings in Clarendon County were without power Monday as a result of Hurricane Matthew. Wind speeds reached more than 40 miles per hour Saturday, and trees fell on power lines, roadways, homes and residents’ yards. Clarendon County received 7.7 inches of rain, the highest in the Midlands, according to the National Weather Service in Columbia. Restoration of power varies for the three companies serving residents in Clarendon County: Santee Electric Coop., Duke Energy and Black River Electric Coop. Santee Electric Coop. reported outages for 7,399 of its customers. The cooperative, which serves 10,127 customers in the county, could not give an estimated restoration time, said Adrel Langley, the cooperative’s manager of community relations. The cooperative, Langley said, operates 36 substations in the county, 20 of which were without power Monday. The reason a restoration
About 150 people staying at Manning shelter BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com
Many in Clarendon are without electricity
Kairo Woods Heidi D. Harris James Matthews Joseph S. Sublette Marilyn Ann Cunningham
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