Mayor Terrance Culbreath has confirmed to the Advertiser, Thursday, April 6, that the state of emergency he declared for the town of Johnston yesterday has been lifted.  The mayor made the declaration after the town saw heavy damage from storms that rolled through the area Wednesday.  That damage included downed trees and power lines and property damage.  While about 1,200 citizens were left without power in Johnston immediately following the storm, Culbreath told the Advertiser that most of the citizens have had their power restored.  However, he did state that he was aware of about 10 homes that were still without power Thursday afternoon.  Culbreath said that the streets that had been closed yesterday are now reopened and that businesses, too, have reopened their doors.  He said that Johnston is “back to normal – or as normal as we can be.”  However, he did caution that citizens may want to still avoid those areas hardest hit as the cleanup efforts in those areas are still ongoing.

Culbreath praised the volunteers who turned out to help with the cleanup effort and thanked the county workers and the town of Edgefield for all of their hard work.  He also expressed his thanks to Harmony Baptist Church who provided a soup and sandwich lunch Thursday for all the volunteers and workers.

JET Middle School was opened last night as a disaster shelter, but Culbreath said no citizens came to use it.  Beds and blankets had been provided by the federal prison for use in the shelter, but they sat unused.  Culbreath did say that those provisions are being left in place though Thursday night in case there are any citizens that may need to use the facility.  Even though the shelter was not used, Culbreath said, “We were ready.”

Tiffani Ireland