“It was horrible everywhere:” Residents and Aiken City, state leaders discussing recovery efforts following Helene
AIKEN COUNTY, S.C. (WJBF) — Recovery efforts are still underway in Aiken County. Leaders say they are prioritizing clearing roads, restoring power, and maintaining water systems post-storm. Paul Freeman, a lifelong Beach Island resident, stayed up during the storm, but at 4:15 a.m., the wind rattled his house like never before. "Got up the next morning and found all the damage out here. It was horrible everywhere," he recalled.
He compared the current storm's damage to Hurricane Hugo. "The damage happened down there; this thing here comes all the way in. We're what four or five hours from the coast and it I ain't never seen kind of damage like this. I mean, usually a lot of rain, we get rain, but this time it was wind."
The damage can still be seen. Trees now on the side of the road. Some are even uprooted and into homes. Neighbors rallying together, clearing roads with chainsaws and sharing resources. "So it's all, when something like this happens, everybody's together. I mean, it don't matter who you are or what you are, everybody pulls together on things like this and that's the good thing," he said.
County leaders say 14 debris teams from SCDOT, and locally teams are working with the National Guard to clear roads. More than 904-thousand power outages were reported statewide. "Luckily I got a generator, a Generac home generator and it cranked up on its own and, and got us power. So we had power in the house and we still got power. So we're, we're lucky than most. And we got water and power and we got some food, so we're good," Freeman said.
At a news conference on Monday, we've learned some of the hardest hit places in District 1 are Crosland park and Williamsburg Street. We heard from hospital officials. It is fully operational. Food, medicine, and oxygen are available for patients. Volume is increasing. A lot of folks coming in for oxygen and dialysis.
Fuel shortages are causing long lines, with efforts underway to restore power to gas stations. According to Senator Tom Young, the shortages are due to two main reasons. First, a regional distribution center in North Augusta lost power, but it was restored today. Second, many convenience stores and gas stations were closed because they didn't have power. "If you went out looking for gas on Friday afternoon, you might have found one or two gas stations open all over the county. When you went out Saturday morning, there were more stations. Sunday morning there were a few more. today there were even a few more. They'll be more tomorrow," he said.
Meanwhile, Paul feels there's a lack of timely information being shared about it. "We need that information posted somewhere where people can go say, okay, this gas station's got gas. That way people can go get it. But you now you ride around, people run outta gas trying to find gas," he said.
If you do have debris, pile it at the road in front of your home. Contractors will collect the debris in the coming weeks.
