Staff reports  |  Electrical power started popping off early Saturday as Hurricane Florence lingered, dumping rain throughout eastern North Carolina, the Grand Strand and Pee Dee.  More than a million reportedly lost power in North Carolina.  In South Carolina in Santee Cooper’s retail service area, more than 50,000 customers lost power in the storm.

But the utility’s crews, ready for days to jump into action, quickly got to work to restore service to homes and 21 transmission delivery points, most of which were in the North Myrtle Beach-Little River region, according to spokesman Mollie Gore.

Crews, who battled foul weather and wind for hours, were able to turn on the lights to 48,000 customers by Sunday afternoon – a huge effort after a huge storm.