Helene's South Carolina death toll now 22

Hurricane Helene is now officially responsible for 22 deaths in South Carolina, though none have been reported in The Sumter Item’s tri-county of Sumter, Clarendon and Lee.

S.C. Department of Public Safety Office of Public Affairs Director Heather Biance said Saturday at 3:30 p.m. that coroner’s offices have reported five fatalities in Spartanburg County, four each in Aiken County and Greenville County, three each in Anderson County and Saluda County, two in Newberry County and one in Chesterfield County.

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 52, according to the Associated Press.

As of Saturday afternoon, nearly 579,000 Duke Energy customers in South Carolina remained without power in the aftermath of the storm, which has left flooding and destruction in its wake from Florida to Virginia.

Sumter County only accounts for 46 of those outages, Clarendon County six and Lee County one.

The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina report only 14 Sumter meters without power, one in Clarendon and none in Lee.