Death toll from Helene surpasses 100 as NC, Tennessee reel for supplies

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, East Coast residents are still experiencing varying degrees of damage, whether it be flooding, power outages or dangerous debris.

The S.C. Department of Public Safety, on Sept. 30, confirmed 29 South Carolina deaths due to Hurricane Helene. 

- Aiken County: 5

- Anderson County: 4

- Chesterfield County: 1

- Greenville County: 6

- Greenwood County: 1

- Newberry County: 2

- Saluda County: 3

- Spartanburg County: 6

- York County: 1

Across the Southeast, Helene, which came ashore Thursday night as a Category 4 with winds of 140 mph, has devastated communities even after speeds fell, flooding creeks and rivers as far north as Tennessee as it quickly moved through multiple states, leaving more than 3 million customers without power and killing at least 120 as of Monday, according to the Associated Press.

The Sumter Item’s coverage area of Sumter, Clarendon and Lee counties appear to be largely moving forward, with only three Duke Energy customers and one Black River Electric Cooperative meter without power in Sumter, and no outages in Clarendon and Lee.

Just a bit to the west, Lexington County, home to The Item’s sister paper, The Lexington County Chronicle, according to poweroutage.us, is among the S.C. counties still struggling to get back to normal with almost 29,000 outages reported.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster additionally requested an Expedited Major Presidential Disaster Declaration, according to a press release.

If approved, the FEMA Individual Assistance Program will help residents affected by Helene in Aiken, Anderson, Bamberg, Cherokee, Chesterfield, Greenville, Greenwood, Lexington, Oconee, Newberry, Pickens, Saluda and Spartanburg counties. This program can provide financial assistance to residents.

According to South Carolina’s Emergency Management Division, numerous teams have been responding and helping the state recover.

According to the press release:

• Thousands of line workers are working around the clock to make power repairs.
• The South Carolina Department of Transportation has more than 2,300 employees working, clearing debris from the roadways and repairing traffic signals.
• The South Carolina Department of Public Health has been in contact with 168 healthcare facilities to check on their power/electricity status and assist with any needs.
• The South Carolina National Guard has 400 service members on state active duty assisting with damage assessment, vehicle recovery, debris clearing and more.
• The South Carolina Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol Troopers and State Transport Public Officers have responded to 3,854 incidents.

The Blood Connection is asking community members to donate blood as their blood product inventory is at a critical level. Donation centers are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. You can find the donation centers at  thebloodconnection.org/donate.

If you would like to volunteer to assist those impacted by Hurricane Helene, you can register at VolunteerSC.org

If you need help with damage, call Crisis Cleanup at 844-965-1386, and volunteers can help with mucking out, cleaning up trees, tarping roofs and clearing debris.

The Lexington County Chronicle is a sister paper to The Sumter Item. The Item's Kayla Green contributed to this report.