Nearly 1 million without power across Upstate, WNC, NE Georgia

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – Nearly a million customers are without power across the Upstate, western North Carolina, and northeast Georgia as a result of high winds and heavy rain from Helene.

Helene, now a tropical storm, moved through the area with more than a foot of rain in some areas and winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour.

The combination of saturated ground and wind is uprooting trees and knocking down power lines across the area.

As of 11:10 a.m., 688,349 customers were without power in the Upstate counties of South Carolina, 281,345 were without power in western North Carolina, and 17,623 were without power in northeast Georgia.

Those numbers include customers with Duke Energy, Blue Ridge Electric, Laurens Electric, Broad River Electric, Haywood EMC, Hart EMC, and Georgia Power.

It is not known when power will be restored across the area.

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