ANDERSON — Electricity was restored for most Anderson and Madison County residents by Thursday evening.
Anderson Light and Power Superintendent Bruce Boerner said power was returned to all customers Thursday evening, with the last restored at about 5 p.m. At the height of the storm that stretched from Wednesday evening into Thursday, there were about 4,200 homes without power. The strong winds — with gusts reaching about 55 mph — were forecast to diminish after 1 a.m., but when that didn’t happen, the outages piled up, Boerner said.
“We started with a couple of thousand,” the superintendent said. “The weather didn’t subside like they said it would and we kept getting more and more.”
Boerner said crews were out through the night, with some workers putting in more than 24 hours to get the lights back on.
“Around here, that’s not uncommon,” he said. “That’s what you live for. It’s an adrenaline rush. You’re surprised how long you can go.”
While many outages were reported in Summitville and northern Madison County, Elwood Mayor Merrill Taylor said late Thursday that his town was mostly spared.
“We only had a couple over here,” Taylor said. “We had a lot of wind, but only a few outages.”
Late Thursday, there were no outages in Elwood, according to American Electric Power. There were still six Duke Energy customers without electricity in southern Madison County at about 10 p.m.
Early Thursday, Anderson Light and Power faced some unexpected and ill-timed challenges. A car collided with a utility pole in the 3100 block of Mounds Road, causing even more outages, and a transformer failed at Anderson Public Library, cutting the power supply.
Madison County Sheriff Ron Richardson reported power outages in Summitville, Frankton, Pendleton, Edgewood and Markleville. Between 3 p.m. Wednesday and 7 a.m. Thursday, he said the Madison County Dispatch Center received 104 emergency calls and 178 non-emergency calls.
Richardson said his department received eight reports of downed power lines, two included downed trees and two included burning trees. There were six other reports of downed limbs or trees, one transformer fire and one ambulance call after a person on oxygen lost power.
“I really want to thank emergency management,” Richardson said. “Once we got a call, they were there to take control of the scenes.”
Richardson said the Summitville Fire Department rescued a woman whose Chevrolet Impala was stuck in headlight-high water near the intersection of County Road 500 East south of County Road 1550 North. Only minor damage was reported when a tree struck a home on County Road 150 South.
High water was also reported on County Road 500 West and County Road 600 North, the block of East County Road 1100 North, County Road 500 North and 400 West, County Road 500 West and County Road 200 North, County Road 1100 North and County Road 100 West, County Road 700 North and County Road 600 West.
Todd Harmeson of the Madison County Emergency Management Agency said he was not aware of any structural damage in the county.
White River
The National Weather Service extended its flood warning for the White River in Anderson through Saturday morning. The river reached 11.3 feet — more than a foot above flood stage — Thursday morning, according to the weather service.
The river was predicted to crest at about 12.5 feet late Thursday or early today. The White River should drop below flood stage this evening, but some low-land flooding is expected, according to the weather service.
Reporter Justin Schneider contributed to this story.
Contact Shawn McGrath: 640-4883, shawn.mcgrath@heraldbulletin.com.
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