In early August, Tropical Storm Debby gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico. By the time the storm system hit the coast of Florida, Debby was a category 1 hurricane.

Downgraded back to a Tropical Storm, Debby crossed over to the Atlantic and posed a threat for the East Coast. While the storm system was not a hurricane when it arrived in North Carolina, Debby brought torrential rains, flooding and even tornadoes to our service area.

On Tuesday, Aug. 6, Randolph Electric implemented our major storm plan. Crews rolled out to attack outages as Debby arrived in the early morning hours of Thursday, Aug. 8.

In the dark and in extreme weather conditions, REMC crews rolled out to restore power to members. High winds and heavy rain impeded their progress. New trees fell on previously repaired lines throughout their restoration efforts. Lineworkers encountered broken poles and spans of downed lines.

Over the course of slightly more than a 24-hour period, REMC restored power to more than 5,258 members-owners.

The peak number of members out of power occurred around 5 a.m. on Thursday morning. By the early morning hours of Friday, Aug. 9, REMC restored power to our last remaining member-owner affected by the storm.

"We're proud of how well our crews and contractors performed," said REMC CEO Dennis Mabe.

"They maintained a high level of efficiency through some challenging conditions out there and put this one to bed in a relatively quick fashion. There were a multitude of scattered outages on our system, but our team just kept plugging away until the last member-owner had the lights back on. Our team exemplified what REMC is all about: dedicated service to our member-owners."