Tropical Storm Helene recovery information provided at the Aiken event | Aiken Area Govt

USC’s Aiken Convocation Center was packed Friday afternoon, but not with people attending a Pacers game or people watching a graduation.

Instead, the center was filled with people seeking help recovering from Tropical Storm Helene within a day of the South Carolina county team.

Team South Carolina County Days provides residents with a one-stop window to meet with federal and state agencies and local nonprofits and learn about available resources.

Sharon Carpenter, who lives south of Aiken, said she applied for help from FEMA but has not heard back.

People affected by Tropical Storm Helene can apply for assistance at disasterassistance.gov.

“I didn’t get any help, so I went in to see if maybe a person would help me,” Carpenter said. “They said it would be a couple of weeks.”

Helene was completely unexpected, Carpenter continued.

Tropical Storm Helene moved through Aiken County in the early hours of Sept. 27, bringing wind gusts of more than 90 mph to the area. Forecasters had predicted wind gusts of 50 mph, but the storm took an unexpected turn to the east after making landfall late on September 26.

“It’s like he went 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 it.”

South Carolina Lt. Governor Pamela Evette visited the event with several people.

Evette said she met with a man who wanted to clarify how to get information about disaster assistance.

Aiken County and its neighbors were among the last areas in South Carolina to have power restored. As such, many residents did not have access to the Internet to learn about disaster assistance available from federal and state governments and local non-profit organizations.

“Communication is probably a little more backed up here, too,” Evette said.

“He lives in a rural place in Edgefield County and he felt a little forgotten, and when he left, he already had the information he needed. He had the numbers he needed.”

Evette said she also told the man the state would continue to help people until they recover.

“A lot of times what people need after that is someone to say it’s going to be okay and we’re not going to get away with it and we’re going to help you get through it,” Evette said.

Tabetha Treadwell-McGee and her mother, Wanda Stewart, live on Bettis Academy Road near Graniteville.

Helene was mean, McGee said.

“Something we’ve never experienced,” he continued.

A tree fell on his house and several fell around him but did not lose power.

“The thing is, everyone around us did it and we had to spend cash all the time,” Stewart said.

McGee added that he was hoping to get more attendance at the event rather than receiving information on how to get assistance.

There is one day left in South Carolina’s team county. 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.