Storm rips the South to shreds, but Columbia County avoids the worst of it

  • A man talks on the phone next to a damaged postal truck at an apartment complex where heavy weather passed through Thursday in Spartanburg, S.C. (SEAN RAYFORD/Associated Press)
    A man talks on the phone next to a damaged postal truck at an apartment complex where heavy weather passed through Thursday in Spartanburg, S.C. (SEAN RAYFORD/Associated Press)
  • Joyce Baskette adds more debris to a pile of limbs, branches and clumps of moss that she created while picking up debris that fell in her Lake City yard Thursday when high winds hit the area. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)
    Joyce Baskette adds more debris to a pile of limbs, branches and clumps of moss that she created while picking up debris that fell in her Lake City yard Thursday when high winds hit the area. (TONY BRITT/Lake City Reporter)

    While locally reports of downed trees and power outages were plentiful, Columbia County and surrounding areas were largely spared the brunt of a storm that stretched all the way to New England and res…