Winds from Tropical Storm Helene ripped the roof off this home in Williston, S.C., at 5 a.m. Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, and caused the sunroom and screened-in porch to collapse. (Provided by Emily Wiles)
COLUMBIA — Tropical Storm Helene caused at least six deaths in South Carolina as its winds covered the state early Friday and left more than 1.2 million homes and businesses without power statewide.
The Anderson County Coroner’s office confirmed two people were killed in that Upstate county when trees fell on their homes, according to spokeswoman Alyssa Whitfield.
And Aiken County Coroner Darryl Ables said his office is investigating four deaths related to the storm.
Winds from Tropical Storm Helene downed trees across South Carolina. Pictured is a home in Williston, S.C., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (Provided by Kevin Carroll)
Meanwhile, utilities statewide reported outages with no estimates on when power might be restored, according to online outage maps from Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Santee Cooper and the state’s electric cooperatives.
The Upstate took the brunt of the storm. Duke Energy alone was reporting 545,000 outages as of noon Friday.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for parts of the Upstate effective through 2 p.m., warning of life-threatening floods and widespread road closures.
Helene made landfall in Florida late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph. As the storm pushed inland, it weakened but was still a Category 1 storm as it moved up through Georgia and brought tropical-storm-force winds and heavy rainfall across South Carolina.
Helene was expected to turn to the northwest and dissipate over the Tennessee River Valley this weekend.
“Tropical Storm Helene is having a devastating impact on South Carolina,” GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said in a statement. “The scope of damage from the storm has been wide and deep. People are not only without power, but there is heavy flooding, homes have been destroyed and lives have been lost and upended.”
Graham said the congressional delegation will work with the governor to secure federal disaster relief.
Gov. Henry McMaster and the state Emergency Management Division will provide an update at 2 p.m.
Helene’s destructive path comes less than two months after Tropical Storm Debby soaked parts of the state as it meandered up South Carolina’s coast and into North Carolina, spinning off tornadoes, causing flooding and damaging hundreds of homes. But no deaths or injuries were reported in South Carolina from that slow-moving storm.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.