FOREST ACRES, S.C. — Forest Acres residents are still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, with SCDOT crews working Monday to clear trees that are hanging down near roadways and many residents waiting to have debris removed.
The city has helped with clearing trees from roadways and homes, but is still working on finding a company to help remove the large tree trunks that many residents have been left with, says Forest Acres spokesperson Lynnsey Baker.
"Our Public Works Department is equipped to handle trash collection and yard debris. We are not a tree removal company. We do not have the machinery to remove large trunks of trees, even if they’re cut to two to four feet, they may be more than 30 inches in diameter. These are very old trees that fell so if we were to pick some of these up it would ruin our machinery," said Baker.
Baker said the city has removed countless trees. She estimates more than 200 trees in city limits fell during or after the storm, with several of those being on houses. She says trees that were damaged when Helene's winds swept through over a week ago have continued to fall several days after the storm. The city is asking residents to check their property for leaning trees.
"We still have trees falling, we had several trees fall last week days after Helene came through. The ground is really saturated. We are obviously watching this new hurricane coming through the Gulf and hoping it stays on the current track but we don't know if it could possibly shift. But any storm with some more heavy wind that could come through Forest Acres could bring down more trees that were damaged initially from Helene," added Baker.
"I was inside, I heard a loud crack, bang and I knew exactly what it was," said Harrison Lee Reeves, who had a tree fall down from his front yard, damaging his truck and a power line.
He says he was able to get the tree cut down that day, but that he's been trying to find someone since then to come remove the large tree trunk from his front yard.
"It’s been kind of a process just waiting on them to clear the rest of the debris, took probably three days to get power back, still don’t have wifi back. So just working it out," added Reeves.
SCDOT crews will be working to cut down trees too close to roads over the next few days, according to the city. Citadel Park remains closed, with the city saying there are some trees there that are leaning and pose a danger for falling on the playground.