WHITMIRE, S.C. — In Newberry County, hundreds were still without power Monday night after Sunday's winter weather.
Whitmire, a town in the northern part of Newberry County, had about 200 residents without power Monday evening. Earlier in the day, over 600 Whitmire residents didn't have power, but crews have been working hard since Sunday to restore electricity.
At Roche Pharmacy, a local business in town, Monday was not business as usual. Manager Blake Roche tried his best to help customers with lights off and no internet.
"Obviously people need medicine so we’re doing what we can,” Roche told News19.
The pharmacy seemed to be the only business open on Main Street, although it's unclear whether businesses were closed due to lack of power or in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Roche said that once power went out Sunday at the pharmacy, his main concern was getting refrigerated medicine to a safe location. He, along with many other Whitmire residents, blame the outage on a large tree that fell on power lines in a nearby neighborhood.
The tree crashed into a couple backyards, breaking fences. One neighbor said she saw a wire smoldering on the ground after it fell Sunday.
Downed trees and branches caused power outages across Newberry County. Debra Shaw with Newberry Electric Cooperative said the highest numbers of customers without power was 6,700. "Over the last couple of days we've been able to chisel the numbers down a little bit,” said Shaw.
As of 6:30 PM Monday, Newberry Electric reported 630 customers without power.
“One of the biggest challenges has been not being able to get into areas that we need to," Shaw said about crew members in the field. "Lots of the trees are heavy with ice and falling over on the lines, pulling the lines down. And if you can't get a truck in there, you have to get out and climb.”
Both Newberry Electric and Duke Energy hope to have everyone's electricity back up by Monday night.
To look at reported outages from South Carolina's electric cooperatives, click here. Duke Energy also has an active outage map, which can be found here.