Days Later, Scope of Helene Damage Becomes More Clear
Duke Energy will need to completely rebuild substations.
Image for illustration purposes.
Hurricane Helene left millions of people without power, and the full extent of the damage is only now becoming clear. As of Monday morning, widespread outages were reported in several states, including South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia.
According to poweroutage.us, over 500,000 outages were reported in South Carolina, while North Carolina and Georgia each had over 300,000 outages remaining. These totals include customers of cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, and public power entities.
Restoration Efforts Underway
Utility companies are working to restore power as quickly as possible, but the process is expected to take days, if not weeks, in some areas. Georgia Power, for example, has restored power to over 1 million customers impacted by the storm, but notes that restoration efforts are taking multiple days in many areas due to the extensive damage.
The company is using new “smart grid” technologies and pre-positioned teams to respond to the outages and is posting updated estimated restoration times (ERTs) for communities on its Outage Map.
Challenges Ahead
The scope of the damage is significant, and utility companies are facing challenges in restoring power to all areas. In some cases, local grids may need to be completely rebuilt, which could take weeks or even months.
As the restoration process continues, utility companies are urging customers to check their Outage Maps regularly for the latest information and not to rely on inaccurate details from non-company sources.
Source: POWERGRID International
