Five days have passed since Helene swept through parts of the Southeast and mid-Atlantic, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Over 1.3 million homes and businesses in the affected areas are still grappling with power outages, with the western Carolinas bearing the brunt of the impact.
Duke Energy, the region's power provider, described the damage caused by Helene as 'unprecedented,' noting that major portions of the power grid were completely wiped away. The utility company stated that a significant repair or complete rebuild of the electricity infrastructure in upstate South Carolina and the mountains of North Carolina will be necessary to restore power.
The road to recovery is expected to be long and challenging. Hundreds of thousands of individuals remain without power in Georgia, while outages persist in Florida, Virginia, and West Virginia.
As of 8 a.m., the number of outages in the affected states are as follows:
- South Carolina: 493,000+
- Georgia: 373,000+
- North Carolina: 347,000+
- Virginia: 44,000+
- Florida: 40,000+
- West Virginia: 10,000+
The aftermath of Helene serves as a stark reminder of the destructive power of natural disasters and the challenges faced in restoring essential services to affected communities. Efforts to rebuild the electricity infrastructure and restore power to all those impacted are underway, but it will require time, resources, and resilience to overcome the widespread damage caused by the storm.
