As many as 4 million utility customers lost power from Florida to Virginia following Hurricane Helene, according to the National Weather Service and USA Today reports.
In the Upstate, river flood warnings remain until Monday, but flash flood emergencies have ended for Oconee, Pickens, Greenville, and Spartanburg counties, said Clay Chaney, an NWS meteorologist.
Here are wind, rainfall, and river level statistics in the Upstate caused by the storm.
Hurricane Impact: Helene in South Carolina updates: 11 deaths reported in Upstate; thousands without power
River levels around the Upstate from Hurricane Helene
- Reedy River, near Falls Park and Unity Park reached a peak of 16.19 feet and was classified as a moderate flood stage. Prior to the hurricane, this region of the river sat around 1.1 feet.
- Reedy River at I-85 (near the south end of downtown) peaked at 13.34 feet on Friday at 10:45 a.m., breaking a previous record of 11.9 feet. Prior to the hurricane, this region of the river sat around 0.7 feet.
- Saluda Lake Damn reached a peak of 20.23 feet during Hurricane Helene, surpassing a past record 19.4 feet.
- West Pelzer reached moderate flood stage and will peak this evening at 18.3 feet.
- The Saluda and Broad rivers experienced some of their highest levels of flooding since the historic Saluda River flood in 1949. The Saluda River, above Old Easley Road, reached 20.23 feet, and the Broad River, near Lake Lure Dam, reached 26.23 feet.
Rainfall totals from Hurricane Helene
- The highest rainfall total in South Carolina was recorded near Rocky Bottom in northern Pickens County, which accumulated 21.66 inches during Hurricane Helene.
- Various cities and towns in Pickens County received the highest level of rainfall. Table Rock experienced a total of 16.51 inches of rain. Liberty saw 13.12 inches.
- Seneca (Oconee Co.), Travelers Rest (Greenville Co.), and Pickens all received around 12 inches of rain due to Hurricane Helene.
- Greenville received 11.53 inches of rain, Clemson saw 10.16 inches of rain, and 9.42 inches of rain fell on Anderson from Hurricane Helene.
How high were wind gusts in the Upstate during Hurricane Helene?
- Sassafras Mountain in Pickens County saw top wind speeds of 73 mph during Hurricane Helene, marking the highest rate of wind in South Carolina.
- Greenville-Spartanburg recorded 68 mph winds due to Hurricane Helene.
- Downtown Greenville experienced 64 mph winds from Hurricane Helene.
- Anderson experienced 72 mph winds, and Clemson saw 66 mph gusts from Hurricane Helene.
Duke Energy restores power to 723,000, 1 million wait
According to Duke Energy, Hurricane Helene caused more than 1.7 million outages to customers across South Carolina. About 1 million customers in the state are still without power.
As of 5:45 p.m., Duke Energy's outage map shows about 534,000 customers in the Upstate without power.
According to Ryan Mosier, communications lead at Duke Energy, "The damage we are seeing from Helene is historic. Folks who have spent 30-year careers at Duke Energy have never seen anything like this."
There have been no updates on a timeline of full power restoration since Thursday afternoon's press conference alongside Gov. Henry McMaster, where energy company officials across the state said that it is hard to make an exact statement about when households and businesses will have power back, but it could be as late as mid-week.
As of 3 p.m. on Saturday, Duke Energy confirmed resolving more than 723,000 power outages across South Carolina.
Laurens Electric Cooperative restores 25 percent of service area
According to the Laurens Electric outage website, there are still about 44,000 customers without power in their service area as of 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The utility had restored about 25 percent of its membership's power by noon.
The cooperative energy service provides power to more than 66,000 members across the Upstate in Anderson, Greenville, and Spartanburg counties. No timeline has been set for when all members will have full service.
Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative expects multiple-day outages
Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative has dispatched 300 crew members and line workers to assess Hurricane Helene damage across Anderson, Greenville, Oconee, Pickens, and Spartanburg counties. Initially, 216 workers were deployed.
The co-op estimates there are more than 289 broken poles in the service area.
Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative provides energy services to customers in Anderson, Greenville and Spartanburg, Oconee, and Pickens counties in the Upstate. There has been no updated timeline from Blue Ridge Electric on an expected full energy restoration for their service area.
Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina: Outages may last a week or longer
In a statement provided by the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina (ECSC), the western portion of the state should prepare for outages of at least a week, if not longer, as crews repair a mangled power grid.
ECSC also reported that at least 1,400 cooperative power poles were snapped by the storm and require replacement.
"This is not a simple restoration job," said Mike Couick, chief executive of ECSC. "For many areas, particularly in the Upstate and along the western border of South Carolina, co-ops are essentially rebuilding our electric system from the ground up.
ECSC is the state trade association of independent, member-owned electric cooperatives with nearly 2 million members and 20 electric cooperatives. They provide energy to portions of Anderson, Greenville, Spartanburg, Oconee, and Pickens counties in the Upstate.
– A.J. Jackson covers the food & dining scene, along with arts, entertainment and downtown culture for The Greenville News. Contact him by email at ajackson@gannett.com, and follow him on X (formally Twitter) @ajhappened. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers. Sign up today for a digital subscription .
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Hurricane Helene: See the historic river level, rainfall, wind speed totals for the Upstate
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