Duke outages worse in Oconee

By 8:15 this morning, Duke Energy reported that of all outages in its Carolinas’ territory, Oconee County is hardest hit. At that time, Duke counted 2,166 of its Oconee customers without their service. That number includes folks in the Playground Road area of Walhalla where, according to one resident, the power went off at 4 this morning. Falling trees and limbs against lines are a culprit—as evidenced by what a fallen pine tree on Walhalla’s N. Church Street caused. It left an area between the Law Enforcement Center and James Brown Elementary with no service. But Fire Chief Doug Kelley says once the origin of that difficulty was identified—and the tree removed—service returned. It’s a familiar story being repeated around the area today.