The storm downed trees and knocked down numerous powerlines in the county, leaving thousands in the dark for hours.
HANCOCK COUNTY — The aftermath of hurricane Helene in Hancock County were everywhere Friday night and this weekend as area residents had to deal with numerous power outages with thousands left in the dark for hours, trees busted in half, utility poles knocked down and leaves scattered across the county.
Officials from the Hancock County 911 Center say that 2:30-10:30 p.m. Friday their second shift handled approximately 205 incident reports compared to a normal day of about 100 incidents. The breakdown of the night noted over 300 phone and 911 calls, 48 traffic hazard calls, 31 lines down calls and seven pole fires.
Officials from Greenfield Fire Territory also reported a record number of calls and offered out a huge ‘Thank you and a great job’ to Greenfield Power & Light, Hancock County 911 Center, and the Greenfield Police Department, which stayed busy throughout the duration of the storm.
Power outages were reported all over the county by Duke Energy. Over 2,000 people in the southern part of the county lost power for nearly two hours. Greenfield Power and Light reported massive power outages throughout the city, including on East Main Street, Cherry Street, East First Street, Berry Street, Date Street and Blue Stone.
Deputy chief of the GPD Chuck McMichael offered posts throughout the night warning community residents about the danger of approaching powerlines and told the community their officers were on the streets keeping an eye on areas where power was out.
“We want everyone to stay home tonight due to powerlines and trees being down that we don’t know about,” McMichael said. “This is going to take a long time to clean up.”
McMichael took to social media Friday night to report that a large portion of Greenfield was without power around 9:18 p.m. and then noted it would be for a while. Crews worked throughout the night, but several areas were still without power Saturday.
