Power outage history
Horry County South Carolina
2.1hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
46th most of 46 in South Carolina 68% below the national median
Every day since 2015
Eleven years, one night at a time
Each cell is a day. The brighter it is, the larger the share of Horry's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2018 was the worst well-recorded year, at 4.9 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Horry, hours without power per customer
The record
The biggest outages since 2015
Ranked by customer-hours lost: customers out multiplied by how long they stayed out. Times are local.
| Began | Storm | Peak out | Share | Lasted | 90% restored | Customer-hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 8, 2016 | Hurricane Matthew | 183,359 | 71% | 5.0 d | 2.8 d | 7.4M |
| Sep 15, 2018 | Hurricane Florence | 46,356 | 18% | 39 h | 20 h | 796k |
| Sep 30, 2022 | Hurricane Ian | 88,018 | 34% | 37 h | 19 h | 718k |
| Aug 13, 2015 | No storm report | 23,533 | 9% | 5.9 d | 3.0 h | 629k |
| Sep 5, 2019 | Hurricane Dorian | 29,882 | 12% | 23 h | 18 h | 355k |
| Sep 14, 2018 | Hurricane Florence | 40,722 | 16% | 13 h | 19 h | 331k |
| Dec 17, 2023 | Flooding | 23,579 | 9% | 9.8 h | 7.8 h | 78k |
| Oct 8, 2016 | Hurricane Matthew | 22,665 | 9% | 9.2 h | 13 h | 77k |
| Sep 5, 2019 | Hurricane Dorian | 6,955 | 3% | 7.8 h | 3.5 h | 46k |
| Sep 27, 2024 | No storm report | 10,426 | 4% | 5.5 h | 5.5 h | 35k |
| Aug 3, 2020 | Hurricane Isaias | 14,591 | 6% | 7.5 h | 3.5 h | 33k |
| Jan 3, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 5,223 | 2% | 7.2 h | 6.0 h | 31k |
| Jul 8, 2021 | Hurricane Elsa | 9,398 | 4% | 5.0 h | 4.8 h | 28k |
| Aug 25, 2025 | No storm report | 7,639 | 3% | 3.0 h | 2.5 h | 23k |
| Dec 11, 2023 | No storm report | 19,676 | 8% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 21k |
| May 23, 2017 | No storm report | 8,014 | 3% | 2.5 h | 1.8 h | 20k |
| Jul 13, 2020 | No storm report | 13,276 | 5% | 1.8 h | 2.5 h | 17k |
| Jun 14, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 8,823 | 3% | 2.5 h | 1.5 h | 15k |
| Oct 11, 2018 | Hurricane Michael | 6,363 | 2% | 4.2 h | 1.0 h | 13k |
| Aug 28, 2022 | No storm report | 4,042 | 2% | 3.0 h | – | 12k |
| Sep 16, 2015 | No storm report | 8,766 | 3% | 1.5 h | 30 min | 11k |
| Jun 10, 2024 | No storm report | 5,037 | 2% | 2.2 h | 30 min | 11k |
| Apr 24, 2021 | No storm report | 4,825 | 2% | 2.5 h | – | 11k |
| Feb 1, 2025 | No storm report | 3,988 | 2% | 2.8 h | – | 11k |
| Feb 7, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 9,999 | 4% | 1.2 h | 48 min | 11k |
| Dec 4, 2018 | No storm report | 11,398 | 4% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 10k |
| Jul 22, 2025 | No storm report | 4,056 | 2% | 2.5 h | – | 10k |
| Aug 18, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 4,701 | 2% | 2.0 h | – | 9.4k |
| Jul 14, 2023 | No storm report | 3,315 | 1% | 2.8 h | – | 9.1k |
| Aug 1, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 4,270 | 2% | 2.5 h | – | 9.0k |
After the peak
How fast the lights come back
Each line is one major outage, from its peak. The amber line is the typical path.
When it happens
The outage clock
Customer-hours out by month (rings, January innermost) and local hour, 2018–2025.
What was happening
Weather behind the outages
Each outage is matched to NOAA storm reports for Horry from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Tropical storm 79%
- No storm on record 14%
- Thunderstorms 3.6%
- Flooding 2.6%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Horry
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole South Carolina territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Carolina Public Service Authority | State | 43 | 41 | 0.69 | 12.9 | 189k |
| Duke Energy Progress | Investor Owned | 119 | 106 | 1.14 | 14.1 | 144k |
| Horry Electric Coop Inc | Cooperative | 110 | 101 | 1.28 | 13.8 | 92k |
EIA Form 861, latest year each utility reported. Outage minutes are SAIDI, the yearly minutes the average customer goes without power; outages a year are SAIFI.
Next door
Neighbouring counties
- Columbus, NC 16 h
- Marion 14 h
- Brunswick, NC 13 h
- Dillon 11 h
- Robeson, NC 10 h
- Georgetown 3.5 h
- Horry (this county) 2.1 h
About these numbers
Notes
Outages come from the EAGLE-I record of utility outage maps collected every 15 minutes by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Hours without power are customer-hours divided by the county's 259,189 electricity customers. Averages use well-covered years from 2018. Outages shorter than 15 minutes, and utilities that publish no outage map, are not in the record, so these figures understate the total. How every number is made →