2 days Ago
Editor's note: The Aiken Standard is counting down its top 10 local stories for 2024 from Dec. 18-31. Most Aiken County residents went to sleep on the night of Sept.
26 without too much worry about a storm that had made landfall in Florida just hours before. But as the sun came up Sept. 27, there was plenty to worry about.
Power was out for the majority of the county, and trees were down everywhere. Several people – the death toll would eventually rise to 12 – were killed by falling trees and limbs. Her name was Helene, and she was the worst natural disaster to ever hit this area.
Three months later, many Aiken County residents are still recovering from the storm and the wake of devastation it left behind. Helene made landfall as a Category 4 Hurricane in the Big Bend Region of the Florida Gulf Coast on Sept. 26.
But instead of heading through the middle of Georgia, as forecast, the storm turned east and brought near-hurricane force winds to Aiken County as it made its way toward the Upstate. Comparisons to Hurricane Hugo and Winter Storm Pax, natural disasters that previously hit the state, were made. The consensus was that Helene was worse.
"This has been a life-changing event for all of us here in Aiken and Aiken County and this part of South Carolina," S.C. Sen.
Tom Young, R-Aiken, said a few days after the storm hit. The immediate focus was on getting power restored. Keller Kissam, president of Dominion Energy South Carolina, said the utility had one lineman in the area for every seven households.
“We’ve never had this many lineman in this confined an area in my 36 years,” he said. “Of course, I’ve never seen an area busted in the chops like this one.” He also confirmed how bad Helene was.
“This devastation is unbelievable. There’s more here in the western part of South Carolina than I saw during Hugo,” Kissam said. “We had 88 transmission lines out.
We didn’t have this many transition lines down during Hugo in the whole state.” Aiken Electric Cooperative CEO Gary Stooksbury said his utility’s service territory covers 2,500 square miles in nine counties. There are 5,700 miles of lines.
“We have a huge system,” Stooksbury said. “In certain sections, we are literally rebuilding it.” The number of broken poles that were replaced exceeded 1,800.
“I’ve lived through ice storms, and I’ve lived through tornados,” he said. “The blizzard of 1993 was a challenge. But this is the worst devastation that I’ve ever seen in my working career.
” Areas used by the public, notably Hitchcock Woods and Hopelands Gardens in Aiken and the Greeneway in North Augusta, were closed because of the storm. After power was restored, the focus turned to clearing property damage. Tree removal contractors descended on the area, and special events were held to help residents navigate filing claims for insurance and aid.
County Administrator Brian Sanders estimated in November that it will take until at least mid-March 2025 to get the debris removal finished. Aiken County and the cities of Aiken and North Augusta set a Jan. 5 date to get storm debris placed on the side of the road for pickup.
The state Department of Transportation also has been busy, collecting 1.8 million cubic yards of debris statewide since beginning work in October. “This is one of the largest debris missions in the history of our agency,” said SCDOT Deputy Secretary for Engineering Rob Perry.
Staff writers Dede Biles, Matthew Christian, Carl Dawson and Elizabeth Hustad contributed to this article..
