COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said the tangled mess of utility wires and trees is making it difficult to get the power back on for everyone following Helene, but work is progressing
McMaster held a briefing Monday at the state's emergency operation center in West Columbia where he updated the state's response.
Helene has left 29 people dead in South Carolina, according to information provided Monday by the state's Department of Public Safety.
State officials said they're still assessing damage, but preliminary numbers show 15 counties are reporting 519 damaged homes, 21 of which are destroyed and 200 that have significant damage.
Helene dumped heavy rains on the state Thursday then turned around in the overnight hours the next day and brought high winds. The winds tore down thousands of trees and many powerlines throughout the state, damaging homes, blocking roads, and knocking out power to over a million people
"One of the things that's slowing us down is the choke points, we got all these electrical lines down, the soil was wet," McMaster explained. "The trees went over, and the winds were adequate to knock the trees down. They knocked the power lines down."
At its peak, almost 1.4 million homes and businesses were without power, according to PowerOutage.US, a website that totals up numbers from utility companies nationwide. As of Monday night, about 664,000 customers were still without electricity.
McMaster also warned about misinformation that's spreading on social media, including that Columbia was going to shut off water service, which the city of Columbia and McMaster said was totally untrue.
"I spoke to [Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann a minute ago," McMaster said. "He says he thinks they got those rumors knocked down, but there'll be another one coming right behind it before long. So please get your information from official sources."
Several Midlands school districts remain closed to in-person learning, with a handful already announcing they'll be closed against Tuesday.
The South Carolina Emergency Management Division said they've created the 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.