Quick Read
- Santee Cooper reported 25 customers still without power in Horry and Georgetown Counties, South Carolina, down from nearly 4,000 on Sunday morning.
- Thousands lost power in Orlando and Central Florida due to bitter cold, strong winds, and increased electricity demand from home heating.
- Tysons Corner Center in Virginia experienced an outage affecting almost all stores, with Dominion Energy investigating the cause.
- Utilities in Florida urged customers to reduce energy usage between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Monday to ease strain on the grid.
- Restoration efforts continued through Sunday, with some areas lacking estimated completion times.
Thousands of residents and businesses across South Carolina, Florida, and Virginia experienced power outages on Sunday, February 1, 2026, as utility crews worked to restore electricity amid diverse challenges ranging from winter weather and strong winds to equipment issues. The disruptions impacted daily life and commerce, prompting utility providers to deploy repair teams and issue energy conservation advisories.
South Carolina Crews Tackle Residual Outages
In South Carolina, utility provider Santee Cooper reported significant progress in restoring power to customers in Horry and Georgetown Counties. Earlier on Sunday, nearly 4,000 customers were without electricity, largely due to conditions associated with a winter storm. By 2:48 p.m., this number had significantly decreased, with only 25 customers remaining without power across five active outages. These localized disruptions included fewer than five customers affected in the Little River/North Myrtle Beach area, nine in Myrtle Beach, nine in Murrells Inlet, and six near Pawleys Island, according to WPDE. No estimated completion times were immediately available for these remaining outages. Separately, slippery road conditions in Florence County, also in South Carolina, led to a car accident where a vehicle flipped, hit a tree, and caught fire, requiring emergency response from Florence County Fire Rescue and the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
Florida’s Cold Snap Strains Power Grid
Further south, Orlando and Central Florida faced widespread power outages as bitter cold and freezing temperatures gripped the region. Thousands of residents lost electricity due to a combination of strong winds impacting local power lines and the increased strain on neighborhood equipment from home heating systems. Florida Power & Light (FPL) explained that heating systems can use two to three times more electricity than air conditioning, contributing to localized outages during extreme cold. Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) identified Eagle Creek in Lake Nona as one of the hardest-hit areas within its network, according to FOX 35 Orlando. To alleviate the pressure on the grid, OUC urged customers to reduce their energy usage, specifically between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Monday, which is considered a peak demand time, and to lower thermostats to 68 degrees.
Tysons Corner Center Experiences Unplanned Disruption
In Northern Virginia, the bustling Tysons Corner Center experienced a power outage that affected almost all of its stores on Sunday afternoon. Dominion Energy, the utility provider, became aware of the disruption around 2:30 p.m., as confirmed by Aisha Khan, a Northern Virginia spokesperson for the company. All stores within the mall were reportedly impacted, with the exception of Nordstrom. Dominion crews were dispatched to the site to investigate the cause of the outage. According to Dominion’s outage map, Tysons Corner Center was the sole customer affected by this particular loss of power. The utility estimated that electricity would be restored sometime between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. This incident follows a similar outage in April 2022, which also affected Tysons Corner Center and Tysons Galleria for several hours due to an equipment failure, as reported by FFXnow.
Varied Causes Highlight Grid Vulnerabilities
The simultaneous, yet geographically disparate, power outages across these states underscore the varied vulnerabilities of regional electricity grids. From severe winter weather and its secondary effects like hazardous road conditions in South Carolina, to extreme cold and demand spikes in Florida, and localized equipment issues impacting major commercial centers in Virginia, these incidents demonstrate how diverse environmental and infrastructural factors can disrupt power supply. Utility companies continue to adapt their response strategies to these challenges, emphasizing both rapid restoration and proactive measures like energy conservation advisories to manage demand during critical periods.