Hurricane Helene caused destruction across South Carolina when it struck the state Sept. 27, 2024, including this large downed tree in Newberry Electric Cooperative territory.
I drove the backroads of Edgefield County in the days after Hurricane Helene. For long stretches of asphalt early in my drive, everything around me seemed perfectly in place, as if the Category 4 storm had taken a big swing and missed. But with one turn, the scene shifted from idyllic to disastrous. Pine trees no longer towered above the earth; they were lying across houses. I saw huge metal power poles shorn off 18 inches above the ground, one after another.
What kind of force, I wondered, could have wrought such a disaster, not just on the landscape but on lives?
Rural South Carolina, the places that are home to our electric cooperatives, suffered some of Helene’s hardest blows. I don’t need to recount the details to you here—hundreds of thousands of you lived through those days of anxiety, discomfort and even danger.
Helene stretched our resources and our resilience, but the storm also seemed to have expanded our hearts. Rarely have I seen such generosity and encouragement, not just within our stricken communities but poured in from friends and strangers around the country.
Many of you experienced the worst that anyone could imagine—the loss of someone you love. Long after roofs have been tarped, debris has been cleared, and power has been restored, we still mourn for the irreplaceable lives taken by Helene.
There’s no other way to say it—I’m devastated by these deaths and by the enormity of the losses Helene caused in our state and far beyond it.
I want to tell you about just two of the heroes of this storm, a pair of hardworking South Carolinians who lost their lives while serving their rural community when their community needed them most.
Chad Satcher and Landon Bodie were volunteer firefighters for the Circle Fire Department in the small Saluda County community of Leesville. In the midst of the storm, they were responding to a call when a tree fell on their truck, killing them both. Chad, a 53-year-old plumber, was the chief of the volunteer department and had served there for 35 years. Young Landon, just 18, had served there only a few months after graduating from Blythewood High School, where he had been active in the Future Farmers of America.
As I read the news reports about their deaths, I thought that Chad and Landon were the epitome of servant leaders, the very kinds of people who pour their lives into the well-being of our communities. I know their loved ones carry the heavy burden of grief, and I hope the support of their community will help strengthen them.
There are too many stories to tell here of the lives lost to this storm. We’ll never forget the hurt that Helene washed over our state. But we’ll always remember how our communities have shown compassion and strength through the storm’s long aftermath.
We have more than enough reminders this year to hold tight to the people we love, to give generously to our communities and those around us and to give thanks for the blessings of each day. I pray for healing and hope as we continue moving forward from the storms we’ve weathered together.