Spartanburg Residents Frustrated by Delayed Power Restoration After Hurricane Helene

Spartanburg Residents Frustrated by Delayed Power Restoration After Hurricane

Spartans, quite a frustrating situation seems to have developed over at the Pointe Grand Spartanburg apartment complex! Now, this isn’t just a minor hassle. It’s a significant inconvenience for hundreds of tenants like Bihani Tamang, who have been stuck without power since Friday, thanks to Hurricane Helene.

Imagine this – Tamang, a work-from-home software engineer, has spent the last few days in darkness, disconnected and pining for electricity. She depends heavily on the internet for her work with a company based in Asheville, N.C., which, by the way, is nursing its own wounds from the hurricane that has severely damaged their infrastructure.

Her words? “To be honest, I’m looking for hotels in Charlotte right now because I cannot survive here.” It’s pretty dire, isn’t it?

Losses Calculate to Thousand Bucks

But that’s not it. Without electricity, her fridge full of food has spoiled. We’re talking a couple of months’ worth of groceries here. Bottles of sauce, meat, all good food worth $1,500 to $2,000, down the drain. “I would say like anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000 and I’m not joking,” says Tamang.

Anyway, come Monday and the tenants receive a text message from Duke Energy stating that power would be restored by Friday, October 4th. But, in a twist of fate, or what some may call a reliable service gone sideways, another message drops in on Friday, bearing the news that the power restoration is pushed to Sunday, October 6th.

That’s right! An extension. And as you can expect, this did not sit well with most tenants. Infact, as Channon Fernaners, another tenant expresses, “We were happy, hoping it was going to be back on and when we came home, we were hoping to see the lights come on. It would be flicked on. When we woke up, they would be on and still nothing’s on so we’re still a little discouraged, but hoping it comes on soon.”

Looking for that Silver Lining

A press note by Duke Energy, the corporation responsible for restoring power, mentioned that they are prioritizing the restoration of schools, medical facilities, water and sewer facilities as well as customers who have special medical needs and they aim to restore nearly all customers in upstate South Carolina by Sunday.

But you know what’s amazing? In the midst of this chaos and uncertainty, it’s the resilience of people like Tamang and Fernaners that shines bright (no pun intended!). They may be out of power but they’re certainly not out of spirit.

Tamang expresses, “I’m really grateful for what I have and we’re still surviving and I am very thankful for all the workers working day and night to help us restore.” And even see this shared adversity as a time to bond, as Tamang shared, “I think after this outage, we’ve been doing, like making smores in the woods,” said Tamang. “It got all of us together again.”