Overnight–Wednesday!

Other than a couple of trees down on lines, no major emergencies reported during the night in Oconee County. We’re told that county residents, for the most part, avoided getting out onto the still dangerous roads. A mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain continues across much of the state. DOT describes interstate conditions as “passable. Primary and secondary routes remain covered with significant amounts of snow and ice. A total of 163 people spent the night in the Oconee Jail, but only four new arrests reported countywide—a sign, perhaps, that the weather forced some people to behave. On parts of 123 and 28 this morning, some evidence of melting between yesterday and this morning. But it’s still the best practice to obey the warnings to stay-in, unless it’s an absolute necessary that you must get out. Unfortunately, some of those predictions about electric power outages are coming true. City of Westminster lost service during the night. Duke Energy reports 2,082 of its Oconee customers with no power. By 9:45 last night, 541 Oconee County customers of the Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative lost service. If you are a Blue Ridge customer in need of reporting an outage, the number to call is 1-888/BLUERIDGE.” You are asked to not call 9-1-1 to report power out. 9-1-1 should be reserved for a life-threatening emergency.