COLUMBIA, S.C. — Columbia officials said they're working through the problems caused by Tropical Storm Helene but want to reassure residents that they have their back. They also wanted to dispel some misinformation out there about water service that is spreading around.
City leaders spoke Monday morning, some three days into the recovery from widespread impacts of the storm that ravaged the state last Thursday into Friday.
"This is the third largest destructive hurricane that's hit the southeast in the last 50 years," Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann said. "We haven't seen power outages and the issues with trees down....since [Hurricane] Hugo came through."
Rickenmann said he's been reaching out to U.S. Sen Tim Scott and former Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, who now works in the Biden Administration, to help get the resources that they need.
Dominion Energy South Carolina President Keller Kissam said that Monday would be a good day in terms of progress because there would be more crews in neighborhoods. He said that their transmission lines were devastated by the storm, likening the damage to what was seen in the interior of the state during Hugo in 1989. He said those main lines had to be repaired first before the company could go street by street to do work.
"That's why people say I didn't see any crews in my neighborhood, that's because they've gotta work the transmission, then we've got to work the transmission, then we got to work the substations, those fenced in areas near your neighborhood that reduce the voltage to get it into your homes," he said.
"I had someone call me from a neighborhood off Farrow Road and they said, 'I don't see any crews in my neighborhood,'" Kissam added. "I said that's because they're out on Farrow Road where the main feeder is bringing electricity. It doesn't do any good to sit there and work a single outage at somebody's house when there's going to be no power coming to it."
Kissam said the goal is to restore all power to the greater Columbia area by Thursday, although he did state there may be individual homes that have damage to the unit on their home that takes in power that could take longer. He said those people might have to get a certified electrician to repair that before the power could flow to their house again.
Clint Shealy, an Assistant City Manager with Columbia, said rumors that the water service is threatened or is about to be cut off are not true.
"It couldn't be further from the truth," Shealy said, stating that although river levels might approach what we saw during the 2015 flood, this isn't the same situation. "This event is very different than what we saw in 2015 and we're in a very different place than we were in 2015 in terms of preparedness. So I wanna alleviate concerns and tell you with no, with, without a shadow of a doubt, our, our canal supply is stable and operating exactly as intended. We don't anticipate that changing."
He said while there are rising water levels at the wastewater treatment plant, he said crews are working to make sure that's not a problem either.
"We're using every tool, we've got to treat the wastewater and disinfect it," Shealy said. "So we're trying to minimize any harm to the environment that may occur there working with Department of Environmental Services...Our primary focus right now is to make sure we don't spill sewer in the streets in areas where the public might get to it or back it up into your homes. And we're, we're being successful in meeting that objective."
He said anyone with a non-emergency water issue should call 803.545.3300.
Shealy, as well as Cayce officials, also said there are no plans to close the Blossom Street bridge due to high waters. Shealy also said the same for the Gervais Street Bridge.