With widespread power outages impacting Beaufort County, five locals schools were also affected Friday morning.

According to Beaufort County Superintendent Matthew Cheeseman, Northside High School, Northeast Elementary, Southside High School, Chocowinity Primary and Chocowinity Middle School all experienced power outages this morning.

Power has since been restored to schools on the south side of the river. Northside High School, meanwhile, is on generator power, and Northeast Elementary remains completely without power.

“A dead tree blew down and took down power lines in front of Northside, and since Northeast is on a similar circuit, they’re supposed to be back up to full strength probably around 2 p.m. today,” Cheeseman said. “Chocowinity Middle, Chocowinity Primary and Southside all had no power, but they’re all back online (as of noon). Duke (Energy Progress) got them up really fast.”

Cheeseman says this morning’s outages happened as, or shortly after, students arrived on campuses after a two-hour delay.

“The Northside and Northeast outage occurred just as kids were arriving, so kids were already on campus and kids were coming on campus at the high school,” Cheeseman said. “At CPS, CMS and Southside, everybody was already on campus.”

In terms of food service, Cheeseman says the outages required the school system to make alternative arrangements.

With a functioning kitchen at Northside, meals for Northeast Elementary were prepared there and delivered just down the road. For Southside and Chocowinity Middle, BCS ordered pizzas to give kids a hot meal, supplemented by other food already on site. At Chocowinity Primary, food had already been prepared before power went out.

While some of the bathrooms at Southside High School use electric, automatic flushing mechanisms for the toilets, Cheeseman says the power was restored quickly enough that it didn’t become a major issue. The superintendent said the bathrooms at Northeast do not use electricity, so they are still functional during the outage.

As of noon, Cheeseman said the schools were on schedule for a normal release time. The school system is monitoring wind conditions, however, to ensure that buses can travel safely this afternoon.

“The weather shows wind gusts primarily between 11 a.m and 2 p.m. today in our region,” Cheeseman said. “We anticipate dealing with lesser winds in the afternoon. … We just have to drive a little bit slower and make sure we’re safer. We hope parents are patient if we have any kind of delays, but we just want to make sure we’re safe first.”