LEXINGTON, S.C. — Tens of thousands of Lexington County residents remain in the dark after Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction overnight.
Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina says over 36,000 co-op customers in Lexington County are waiting for power.
News19 spoke with Chase Toler of South Carolina of Electric Cooperatives, who said workers are working tirelessly turn the lights back on for all customers, but it could take a while to do so.
"The stateline was at it's peak for electric outages around 9:10 a.m. this morning, we were at 408,503 meters without power, and we were down to 333, 612," Toler said.
Electric workers were able to restore power to 74,000 customers on Friday, with the number increasing.
Due to the high volume of damage to the Midlands, electric companies say they are requesting reinforcement from out-of-state crews.
"Outside crews are coming from nearby states. They will begin work this evening and into tomorrow morning. The process of restoring power is going to be a multi-day event, it will take multiple days to restore power just because of vast amount of damage we have seen across the state," Toler said.
Throughout Friday, residents in Lexington were even taking matters into their own hands when it came to cleaning up debris and roads.
Neighbors at Cross Lake Homes worked together to break down a tree blocking the main entrance. One of those people was teenager Joseph Yasses, who says he, along with his father and friends, spent an hour sawing and cutting the tree.
"At first they were cutting the branches, I mean, you can see the branches right over here," Yasses said. "We tried to clear the roads, and I got to use my dad's saw to cut some pieces and help clear the roads."
Just two roads down, resident Austin Lovell said a group of men was seen sawing a tree that fell into the street.
"It was about 14, 15 of us out there. We had a whole road ... Beach Woods Road was blocked off, so we got it cleared and got traffic coming both ways, and I've been riding around and saw this guy and decided to help him, too."
To keep up with the latest Electric Cooperative outages, click here.