Spartanburg County Faces Over $10 Million Hurricane Helene Cleanup Challenge

Spartanburg County Braces for Costly Hurricane Helene Cleanup

In our cozy little corner of the world, more commonly known as Spartanburg County, we’ve had a bit of a rough ride lately. You don’t need me to tell you that Hurricane Helene left a tremendous imprint on our darling County. I wish I could report that the winds merely ruffled a few trees, but old Helene has left us with some hefty bills to pay.

Doug Bryson, the person in charge of the county’s Office of Emergency Services, has been adding it all up and shared some hefty numbers. According to Doug, we’re looking at a cost of over $10 million when we’ve put all the pieces back together. It’s like doing a million-piece jigsaw puzzle that’s costing us a penny for each piece.

Getting the Dollars Together

If you’re wondering where we’re getting the money from, the County’s looking into a few saving jars. They decided to dip into the county’s insurance fund, transferring $6.5 million into what they call a disaster recovery fund. This fund is for everything from picking up the debris scattered around to covering all the expenses the storm forced upon us.

About the issue, county administrator, Cole Alverson said, “We had massive damage to private properties along with public infrastructure damage. We had damage to utility infrastructure as well.”

Picking up Pace & Pieces

Now, even though it sounds like a lot of money, Alverson assured us it’s enough just for the next month and a half or so, give or take a few days. But not to worry, as its expected FEMA and the state will reimburse us for most of what we spend initially while responding to the storm, clearing the roads, and removing debris.

“Typically, in any natural disaster, FEMA will reimburse 75 percent,” Alverson explained. “12.5 percent is borne by the state. The other 12.5 percent is our responsibility as a county.”

But here’s some good news amongst all this chaos: According to Bryson, Joe and Jane taxpayer shouldn’t see the cost of the recovery efforts slapped onto their bills: “It should not impact the taxpayers at all,” he said.

Onwards and Upwards

Meanwhile, our brave crews are out there, doing their best to remove debris from our homes. On an average day, they manage to clear 5,000 cubic yards of debris. They’re prioritizing the bigger stuff first, you know, for safety reasons.

We’re all crossing our fingers hoping that the cleanup will be over by the end of 2024. Or at least that’s the plan. Meanwhile, we’re buckled in and braced to face this challenge head-on.

While we all grapple with the effects of this uninvited guest, we stand tall, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our community. We know these are trying times. But as we always say, ‘Tough times don’t last; tough people do.’