South Carolina Power Team reposted this
Helene update - Oct. 15: South Carolina's electric cooperatives have now restored power to all but 830 of the 425,000 members who lost power when Hurricane Helene pummeled the state two weeks ago. That means 99.8% of those who lost power and 99.9% of the entire S.C. cooperative system now have electricity. Helene will go down as one of the deadliest and most destructive storms to ever hit the Palmetto State, but our co-ops' response has been nothing short of astounding. South Carolina's co-ops mustered a workforce of more than 3,400 to restore power to their members. That included line workers from 11 S.C. co-ops that had finished restoration work as well as crews from 24 states. It amounts to one of the largest storm restoration efforts in state history. Four co-ops had to erect "tent cities" just to house the hundreds of extra crews. They worked 16-hour shifts rebuilding and repairing the electric system and slept at night on cots. That work still isn't quite done, as hundreds of meters still remain out. Most, if not all, of those will be back online by the end of this weekend. Our co-ops won't stop working until the very last light is on.