Driving through Greenville a week after Hurricane Helene, two sights become familiar almost immediately: trees everywhere — on the streets, on houses, on interstate medians — and traffic lights with usually normal cycles serving as four-way stops.
However, residents know that’s only the half of the story.
The assessments of just what the damage includes are ongoing. There’s the accounting of how many felled trees have struck cars, ripped down roofs, and taken lives. Some still spend nights in the pitch dark and days in stuffy air, wondering when their light switches, stoves, and air conditioning may function again. Many are wondering — worrying — about friends in North Carolina they can’t get ahold of.
Most of all, Upstate residents are bracing for the marathon — not sprint — that is storm relief and restoration.
Property damage
Jennifer Diehn, who has been a Spartanburg resident for 22 years, said that she weathered the storm in her house as trees fell around her neighborhood and directly on her property.