HURRICANE HELENE LOOK BACK
November 06, 2024
It has been a little over a month since Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina causing electric outages and devastation in Rutherford County that most have not seen before.
The week Hurricane Helene was forecasted to hit the area Bostic representatives began making preparation for the storm. In preparation, the Fire and EMS Building’s generator was refueled and tested; food was stocked for the firefighters; communication was setup between the board; Bostic representative(s) were designated to communicate with Forest City; notices were sent thru alert system, Facebook and webpage; plus, the fire department was making additional preparations. This is not an all-inclusive list.
Early morning on Friday, September 27th, the Bostic Volunteer Department began responding to emergency calls; assisting residents with needs; clearing roads; and manning the fire station. During the worst part of the storm, firefighters had to be called back to the station from road clearing for their safety due to the severe winds and trees falling. Once the weather conditions allowed, road clearing was picked backup within the Bostic Fire District service area. The Bostic Volunteer Firefighters worked tirelessly for more than a week responding to emergency calls; making sure residents had an entry/exit to their homes; assisting residents in need; clearing roads; and manning the fire station 24/7.
Forest City Public Works, contractor that maintains Bostic’s utility services, began working in the early hours on Friday when Hurricane Helene hit the area responding to electric outages, downed lines and poles, and trees in Forest City. Although Forest City had extensive damage due to Hurricane Helene, the Public Works Department along with mutual aid worked diligently in removing downed trees, replacing poles and restoring power to the Town of Forest City. Once Forest City had their electric system back up electric crews from the Town Forest City, Town of Concord, Town of Statesville, and Town of New Burn; and tree crew from Asplundh were sent to Bostic.
Bostic electric customers were without power for seven (7) to eight (8) days. The Town of Bostic is fed power from the Duke Energy Washburn Substation. The substation had damage to lines and poles that feed the substation and feed Bostic electric. Duke Energy had the repairs complete with the feed turned on to Bostic on Thursday, October 4th at 10:30 a.m. Tree crews were in Bostic on Thursday morning cutting limbs and downed trees from power lines followed by the electric crews making repairs to restore the power. By 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, seventy-five percent (75%) of Bostic electric customers’ power had been restored. By noon on Friday, October 5th all of Bostic’s electric customers’ power had been restored except for one (1). From the time Bostic received power from Duke Energy, it was less than a day and half that power was restored to Bostic electric customers.
The town received concerns from customers of why electric crews were not seen working to restore power from September 27th to October 4th. Be assured that work was taking place in preparing for power to be restored to Bostic. During this period a day did not go by that a Bostic representative and Forest City representative was not working together preparing to restore power to Bostic electric customers.
The Town of Bostic receives exceptional service from the Town of Forest City. The response during Hurricane Helene was no different. The agreement between the Town of Forest City and Town of Bostic is invaluable in providing utility services to Bostic service area.
Please see attached Myth and Fact Sheet regarding Bostic Electric.
Released 10/29/2024
