About 1 million energy customers remain without power across six states following the destructive path of Hurricane Helene. The storm caused significant damage to critical power infrastructure from Florida to West Virginia, leaving a trail of outages in its wake.
South Carolina and North Carolina were the hardest hit states, with South Carolina experiencing the highest number of outages. Duke Energy, a regional energy provider, reported that major portions of the power grid in the western Carolinas were completely destroyed by the storm.
While utilities are working diligently to restore power, some areas are facing the prospect of prolonged and extensive repairs. Duke Energy stated that approximately half of the power outages in upstate South Carolina and the mountains of North Carolina will require significant repairs or a complete rebuild of the electricity infrastructure.
As of 9 p.m., the number of outages in each state were as follows: South Carolina with over 403,000 outages, North Carolina with over 303,000 outages, Georgia with over 295,000 outages, Florida with 27,000 outages, Virginia with 25,000 outages, and West Virginia with 6,300 outages.
