Hurricane Week: Power crews prepare in advance to keep lights on - wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina |

When it comes to hurricane season, SCE&G power crews say they are out prepping for a storm long before the first raindrop ever falls. 

"We prepare for a storm 365 days a year," said Keller Kissam, President of Operations for SCE&G.

"When you see our trucks out in your neighborhood, we're doing circuit inspection, we're looking at our poles, we're looking at wires," he said. "That's followed by circuit correction where we actually go out and change out poles and devices to make sure that they are storm worthy, and they're going to survive through a storm such as a hurricane."

Kissam said officials at SCE&G closely watch each WIS News 10 forecast to make sure they know what to expect. He adds that in order to try and prevent some of the outages caused by big storms, SCE&G workers also trim trees throughout the year.

"We try to maintain those trees so that they grow away from the power lines because vegetation is one of the biggest causes of outages that we have during regular storms, as well as hurricanes," said Kissam.

Kissam has been working with SCE&G for 24 years and says the crews that you see working on lines during any outage have been trained extensively.

"The job of a power line worker is the sixth most dangerous job in the world, so we make safety a priority," added Kissam.

"We encourage your family to be safe," he said. During an event such as [a hurricane], stay away from downed power lines, stay away from uprooted trees because those can even bring underground electric lines as well as gas lines to the surface."

SCE&G Officials say an electric or gas emergency should never be reported online, and you should call their headquarters at 1-888-333-4465. That is the same number to report a power outage.

Officials say you may also report an outage online by computer or through your mobile smart phone. You can sign-up for text alerts at www.sceg.com.

In the event of an outage, officials say you should also pack a storm emergency kit for your family and always have it full of supplies. They have a list of suggested supplies on their storm center site.  Click here for a link. 

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