Recovery efforts are ongoing in Newberry County, one of the hardest-hit areas in the Midlands, following the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. Much of the community remains without power, days after the storm made its impact.
On Wednesday, Newberry County Sheriff’s deputies distributed food and water to residents most affected by the storm.
“We’ve given out 16 pallets of water, we’ve probably serviced over 1,000 people,” says Sheriff Lee Foster.
Thanks to the state and donations from private citizens, the sheriff’s department was able to pass out essential items to those without power.
According to Power Outage US, 73% of the county is still without power.
One of the people still without electricity is Keli Dickert. Instead of staying home in the dark, she brought her sons, Ayden and Easton, to help her husband hand out supplies at the sheriff’s department.
“We’ve not had power since Friday morning around 4, My children haven’t been able to do their schoolwork, and I’m a teacher, so I haven't been able to do any of my stuff.... so we’re just trying to give back to the community," Dickert says.
Meanwhile, electricity providers are working around the clock to restore power. Debra Shaw, Vice President of Marketing at Newberry Electric Cooperative, said the storm caused extensive damage to their infrastructure, which will take time to repair.
“This is a storm unlike any we’ve seen before here in Newberry County,” Shaw explained.
Adding, “We had more than 100 poles broken poles across our system and if you know anything about electricity it's 3-plus hours to change out a pole. There is an awful lot of damage to our system, and it’s gonna take a while. I honestly don’t think it will be within a week, just lots of lots of damage,".
“It’s like a war zone out there but in the scope of things, if you can just sit back and reflect, we are very blessed with not having more disaster than we had," Foster adds.
The sheriff’s department plans to continue distributing food and water on Tuesday but has not yet set a time. They are asking people to check their Facebook page for updates.