HHI and Helene

[Steve A]

We got off easy this time. Others didn’t.

From the Island Packet

No Helene-related deaths in Beaufort, Jasper counties as toll climbs in SC, nationwide BY EVAN MCKENNA UPDATED SEPTEMBER 30, 2024 6:46 PM | Beaufort County, SC, continues to experience damage, flooding, and downed trees due to the strong winds from Hurricane Helene. BY KARL PUCKETT| LOUMAY ALESALI Coroners in Beaufort and Jasper counties reported zero deaths related to Hurricane Helene, both offices confirmed Monday afternoon. Storm-related causalities appeared to be very low or nonexistent in the Lowcountry, but dozens were killed in the Midlands and Upstate regions as the hurricane bore inland and left a path of destruction across the southeastern United States. At least 29 deaths had been linked to Helene across South Carolina, Governor Henry McMaster said at a media briefing Monday afternoon. That’s nearly a fourth of the estimated 121 people killed by the storm across six states, although statewide and nationwide death tolls are subject to rise as the week goes on. Across the Palmetto State, Helene-related deaths were reported in Aiken County, Anderson County, Chesterfield County, Greenville County, Greenwood County, Newberry County, Saluda County, Spartanburg County and York County. Most were caused by trees falling on top of victims, according to reporting from The State Media Company. The statewide death toll eclipsed the 19 causalities caused by historic flooding in 2015 and came close to the state’s estimated 35 deaths from the catastrophic Hurricane Hugo. Strong winds split a large tree in a yard off Ribaut Road early Friday morning, Sept. 27, 2024 as Helene rattled Port Royal, South Carolina and surrounding areas. The system was downgraded to a tropical storm Friday after making landfall in Florida and forging a fatal path through the Southeast. Karl Puckett Helene’s footprint was moderate in Beaufort County, where the storm downed dozens of trees and left thousands of residents without power for days. Damage was most significant above the Broad River, including several beached boats, flooding at the Beaufort waterfront and costly destruction to a Port Royal boardwalk. The storm’s aggressive winds also generated three low-level tornadoes across Beaufort County in an 18-hour span, with gusts of 70 mph and above contributing to the destruction. TOP VIDEOS Early Friday morning, about 1.3 million electric customers in South Carolina were left without power, including 50,000 in Beaufort County and 6,300 in Jasper County. As of Monday afternoon, outages had shrunken to include about 2,300 in Beaufort County and 2,200 in Jasper County, according to local data from PowerOutage.us. Hilton Head Island was largely spared from the weekend’s widespread power outages because the town’s electric lines are located underground.

Read more at: https://www.islandpacket.com/news/weather-news/article293267749.html#storylink=cpy

 

[SueDonJ]

Thanks for this, Steve.

The howling wind kept me awake throughout the night so I was up to see the cable/internet give out around 2AM and for the tree limbs to start crashing down around 4. We only had one hit the deck but thankfully no damage from it, and the few others hit the ground. When the wind finally died down the next day Don and I started cleaning up and it took us four hours - the debris is still piled up out front waiting for Leamington's clean-up crew to come through. A few homes here in our neighborhood have major structural damage with the large oaks coming down on roofs. We haven't yet headed down towards Sea Pines or up towards Port Royal but I imagine there are debris piles lining the streets there, too.

HHI didn't have any evac orders and like Steve says, we got off easy. But if a storm that didn't generate evacuation orders could be that loud and frightening (to me, anyway, at 3 in the morning) I'm convinced that I'll be following such orders for any future storms.

 

[Steve A]

We were in Orlando, had thought about going to Blue Ridge GA, but thankfully didn’t. Orlando had no problems. Friends who were watching the house moved the outdoor furniture and did some cleaning up afterwards. When we got home I did some cleaning of the pool. Brush is piled up in front of homes in Port Royal. One tree came down a block away. There doesn’t seem to be too much damage. I walked down to the beach, and based on the amount of dead sea grass it seems the water came up into the dunes but again no damage.

My former grad school roommate at Chapel Hill lives in Brevard NC. I haven’t been able to contact him.