Marlboro County is under winter weather advisory.
According to the National Weather Service, periods of freezing rain early Friday will mix with sleet and snow late Friday afternoon and likely become all snow during Friday night. Total ice accumulations will range between 0.05 to 0.20 inches. Total combined sleet and snow accumulations will run less than 1 inch. The advisory is in effect from midnight tonight to noon Saturday.
Steve Akers, emergency management/E911 director, said the county is at Operational Condition (Op Con) 2, which is for monitoring and preparing. County officials are not planning to go to Op Con 1 because they don’t think the storm will be that severe.
“We are going to partially open the Emergency Operation Center in the morning,” Akers said. “It will be staffed with me, someone from EMS, and someone from the Fire Department.”
The latest storm comes on the heels of last weekend’s Winter Storm Izzy, which left many without power throughout the county.
Akers said there were sporadic power outages in the county and the city of Bennettsville.
“We had some on Monday due to the winds,” he said. “We fared pretty good. There was no structural damage.”
At Tuesday’s City of Bennettsville Council meeting, council member Allen Taylor thanked everyone for what they did during the storm. He commended the electric crew of seven linemen for their response during the storm. He noted they responded to 138 calls during the worst day (Jan. 16) and the next day had 57 calls.
Taylor said the power grid does need some attention but the tax base does not allow us to have a stockpile of equipment.
“The supply chain is what kept the power from coming back on fast,” he said. “The parts that were needed were ordered months ago. Our guys did the best they could do to try and restore power safely during that storm.”
Matt Haynie, chief marketing officer for Marlboro Electric Cooperative, said crews were prepared for the worst.
Overall, Marlboro Electric had less than 400 members lose power Sunday, mainly due to limbs falling on power lines. “These outages were scattered throughout our territory, with 95% restored before the sun went down,” he said.
As far as the upcoming threat of bad weather this weekend, Haynie said they were are preparing again. “All crews are on standby and will respond if needed,” he said. “The increase in staff due to the consolidation of MEC and Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, has accomplished stronger reliability and faster restoration times. When it comes to the weather, one can never truly predict the impact until after the storm passes. Therefore, we will always prepare for the worst-case scenario, and pray for the best.”