No Helene-related deaths in Beaufort, Jasper counties as toll climbs in SC, nationwide
Coroners in Beaufort and Jasper counties reported zero deaths related to Hurricane Helene, both offices confirmed Monday afternoon. Storm-related causalities appeared to be very low or nonexistent in the Lowcountry, but dozens were killed in the Midlands and Upstate regions as the hurricane bore inland and left a path of destruction across the southeastern United States.
At least 29 deaths had been linked to Helene across South Carolina, Governor Henry McMaster said at a media briefing Monday afternoon. That’s nearly a fourth of the estimated 121 people killed by the storm across six states, although statewide and nationwide death tolls are subject to rise as the week goes on.
Across the Palmetto State, Helene-related deaths were reported in Aiken County, Anderson County, Chesterfield County, Greenville County, Greenwood County, Newberry County, Saluda County, Spartanburg County and York County. Most were caused by trees falling on top of victims, according to reporting from The State Media Company.
The statewide death toll eclipsed the 19 causalities caused by historic flooding in 2015 and came close to the state’s estimated 35 deaths from the catastrophic Hurricane Hugo.
Helene’s footprint was moderate in Beaufort County, where the storm downed dozens of trees and left thousands of residents without power for days. Damage was most significant above the Broad River, including several beached boats, flooding at the Beaufort waterfront and costly destruction to a Port Royal boardwalk.
The storm’s aggressive winds also generated three low-level tornadoes across Beaufort County in an 18-hour span, with gusts of 70 mph and above contributing to the destruction.
Early Friday morning, about 1.3 million electric customers in South Carolina were left without power, including 50,000 in Beaufort County and 6,300 in Jasper County. As of Monday afternoon, outages had shrunken to include about 2,300 in Beaufort County and 2,200 in Jasper County, according to local data from PowerOutage.us.
Hilton Head Island was largely spared from the weekend’s widespread power outages because the town’s electric lines are located underground.
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This story was originally published September 30, 2024 at 4:36 PM.
