By Matthew Christian, originally posted October 19, 2024 by Aiken Standard
The USC Aiken Convocation Center was filled Oct. 18 but not with people attending a Pacers game or watching a graduation.
Instead, it was filled with people seeking help recovering from Tropical Storm Helene at a Team South Carolina County Day.
Team South Carolina County Days offer residents a one-stop shop to meet with federal and state agencies and local nonprofits and learn about resources available.
Sharon Carpenter said she applied to FEMA for relief but had not gotten a response.
People affected by Tropical Storm Helene can apply for assistance at disasterassistance.gov.
“I didn’t get any help so I came in to see if maybe doing it person would help,” Carpenter said. “They said it’d be a couple of weeks.”
Helene was completely unexpected, Carpenter continued.
Tropical Storm Helene moved through Aiken County early on Sept. 27, bringing wind gusts of over 90 mph to the area. Meteorologists had been predicting 50 mph wind gusts but the storm took an unexpected turn east after making landfall late Sept. 26.
“It’s like it just came through Whiskey Road and leveled everything,” Carpenter said. “I didn’t really realize it was that bad until I got up. It was a freight train because we heard that.”
South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette visited with several people at the event.
Evette said she met with a man who wanted clarification on how to get information on disaster assistance.
Aiken County and its neighbors were among the last areas of South Carolina to have power restored. As such, many residents didn’t have access to the internet to learn about the disaster assistance available from the federal and state governments and local nonprofits.
“Communication’s probably a little bit more backed up here, too,” Evette said.
“He lives in a rural spot in Edgefield County and he just felt kind of forgotten and, by the time he left, he had the information he needed. He had the numbers he needed.”
Evette said she also told the man that the state would continue to help people until they’ve recovered.
“A lot of times what people need in this aftermath is somebody to say that it’s going to be OK and we’re not going to go away and we’re going to help you get through it,” Evette said.
Tabetha Treadwell-McGee and her mother, Wanda Stewart, live off Bettis Academy Road near Graniteville.
Helene was bad, McGee said.
“Something we’ve never experienced,” she continued.
One tree fell on their home and several fell around it but they didn’t lose power.
“The thing is everybody around us did and we had to spend cash the whole time,” Stewart said.
McGee added she was hoping to get more assistance at the event rather than be provided information about how to get assistance.
There is one remaining Team South Carolina County Day. It will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday at the James Medford Family Event Center at Piedmont Technical College in Greenwood.