Cleaning up Helene aftermath in Spartanburg Co.

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – Days after Hurricane Helene made landfall, Spartanburg County, like the rest of the Upstate, is in the clean-up phase.

“The worst storm in probably the history of Spartanburg County, and most definitely the worst storm we’ve ever lived through in our lives,” said David Britt with Spartanburg County Council.

County leaders met to address some of the biggest concerns they’ve noticed.

Officials said 911 is the only line up and working right now, so it’s become swamped with non-emergency calls.

“The first couple hours of the storm Friday morning, they were processing over 2,800 incoming calls an hour,” said Doug Bryson, the Spartanburg County Emergency services director. “That’s a normal call load for two days.”

As residents clean up, the county said they will be there to help.

“Just get all woody or vegetative debris to the right away, which is the area between the pavement and the property line, pile it up there and keep away from mailboxes so when the mail service does start back up they can access that,” said Bryson.

On the sheriff’s office side of things, they’ve been dealing with their own set of issues.

Without power, devices like ankle monitors are down.

Spartanburg County Sheriff Wright said while he hopes no one takes advantage of it, and he recognized that this is an emergency.

“Don’t take advantage of that thing, we can still monitor you, we’re just not doing anything as far as you moving around because we understand its an emergency and we don’t want you to sit around and not let your mom and dad be without food and water because you don’t want to violate the law,” said Sheriff Wright.

Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said the past few days have been devastating due to storm-related deaths. He reminded others to be grateful for the small things and to love their family.

“Even though I don’t have power and I’m taking a cold shower, I’m still able to get up and love the people I love,” said Clevenger. “I can direct you to six families within our county that can’t do the same thing.”

Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium opened as a general population shelter that’s pet friendly and able to house as many as 500 people.

The county also implemented a Helene hotline, which can be reached by calling (866) 246-0133.

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