Trees and debris littered roads and the countryside in most of the county this morning. An intense storm had downed power lines and put generators at some institutions to the test.

“We had widespread trees down from Chappells to Whitmire,” said Sheriff Lee Foster.

Most utility systems serving the county had to deal with power losses.

Those power losses left Mid-Carolina High and Middle School and Prosperity-Rikard Elementary School without power as students headed to class this morning.

The power was expected to be restored by mid-morning.

Also, Mid-Carolina High’s generator failed, according to Foster.

Foster said trained generator operators and deputies Captain Wesley Boland and Lt. Wesley Palmore were able to get the machines going.

The sheriff said school buses had already started routes when the storm hit, and there was no advance warnings from the weather service about the storm.

A power outage and generator damage left the Newberry County Memorial Hospital in the dark too.

From around 5:30 to 6:30 a.m. the power was out at the hospital, said Marketing and Public Relations Director Andy Hawkins.

The hospital’s backup generators came on when the power went out, but then malfunctioned.

The problem with the generators will be repaired immediately, said Hawkins.

The hospital put its backup plan into action and prepared to divert incoming trauma patients. One patient coming from Fairfield County was sent to another hospital.

Due to tornado warnings for the area, hospital patients were moved to the halls of the hospital for safety.

The power outage for the hospital, local nursing homes and some city residents was due to a limb falling on a major three-phase line on Harrington Street and causing a breaker to blow. The power was out for about an hour.

Newberry Electric Cooperative had 1,600 customers without power, most were restored by press time.

Two school buses were trapped in the Maybinton and Mount Pleasant areas but nothing was hit, according to Foster.

“Just got caught and couldn’t turn around. No injuries were reported. The fire department got them free and on their way,” said Foster of the buses.

The Whitmire area also experienced numerous fallen trees and at press time, power was still out to about half the town between Church Street and Highway 66.

Whitmire Fire Chief Michael Thomas said winds measured between 40 and 45 mph.

Some metal was sheared off roofs as trees fell in the town.

“We had lots of high wind, but no homes were damaged,” said Thomas.

On the Southern end of the county in Little Mountain, many trees were downed. And timber fell in the Highway 56 and Belfast Road area near Chappells and Kinards too.

One home in the Belfast and Highway 56 area reportedly suffered damage.

“We really need to thank the fire departments and rescue squads for their efforts to open the roads. DOT [S.C. Department of Transportation] has a limited staff and can’t cover everything,” said Foster. “The emergency service responders got most of the roads cleared so the buses could get through, and emergency vehicles as well as commuters. If not for them, we would have been in a real mess. They are heroes and should be commended publicly...”