Ladies and gentlemen, as you all know by now, Hurricane Matthew has been the storm we all feared it would be.  That right turn in the forecast track - the one that we were all hoping for - did not happen. 

As I write this, between 80% and 90% of our members are out of power.  We have lost transmission service to more than half of our substations.  Our right-of-way crews (normally used for taking trees off of power lines) are instead having to be used to clear roads so that we can simply navigate the system.  These added steps - clearing the highways and getting transmission service back - have to take place before Santee Electric can restore power to all of you.  Furthermore, while we have numerous construction and tree crews coming from other states, they are having a difficult time getting into South Carolina due to the highway hazards.  This is going to be a long event.  While we do not yet have a complete system assessment, it is clear that some of these outages will take days to restore.

That is the bad news.  The good news is that winds have finally died down, and we have begun the restoration process.  Beginning this evening, assistance will start pouring into our areas from all over the southeastern United States.  Our sole focus over the coming days will be power restoration.  All new services, nonpayment disconnects, security light requests, and other service orders not pertaining to power restoration will be suspended until the system is returned to normal.  As always, we will approach restoration by the steps that will bring power to as many people as possible - as fast as possible.  However, you must take precautions if the health of someone in your home depends on electricity.  We ask for your patience.  We ask that you treat all downed power lines as if they are energized and stay away from them.  And I would like to personally ask you to join me in praying for the citizens of our community and the women and men working on this system during these difficult and dangerous days ahead.

Santee Electric Co-op serves the rural parts of Clarendon, Florence, Georgetown and Williamsburg Counties. Outage maps can be viewed at www.santee.org. Outages can be reported at www.santee.org, on the SmartHub app, using TextPower or at 1-888-239-2300.