EDGEFIELD COUNTY, S.C. — The number of storm-related deaths in South Carolina from Helene continues to rise, one week after the storm left the state.
The South Carolina Department of Public Safety said Friday there are now 46 deaths attributed from the storm. That's up five from the day before. Many of the deaths are being discovered as teams continue to survey homes that were heavily damaged in the storm.
South Carolina Emergency Management Director Kim Stenson said Thursday that so far, 23 counties are reporting over 3,500 homes damaged with 196 of those destroyed and another 1,100 with major damage.
Utilities continue to make significant progress on restoring power, but there remains a significant number of people without electricity. As of mid-Friday afternoon, there were 257,000 outages reported statewide. A week earlier, at the peak of the storm, nearly 1.4 million outages were reported, according to PowerOutage.us, an site that collects data from power company websites.
The South Carolina Emergency Management Division has created the Hurricane Helene information line at the following number: 1-866-246-0133. People who have questions about the storm can call operators with the State's Public Information Phone System 24 hours a day. The number will be available for as long as needed.
State officials said people can ask questions about the state's response or any safety precautions they should take.