Here’s how many football fields Greenville would need to hold all its Helene debris

Many accolades have come Greenville’s way over the years as revitalization turned to prosperity.

Here’s another: tidy. This is a city that brings out public works cleanup crews immediately after every festival, parade or other events.

And so it comes as no surprise that Greenville city officials were ready when the remnants of Hurricane Helene — still a powerful tropical storm — blasted through the city, downed hundreds of trees and power lines, ripped off roofs and flooded streets.

In fact, planning for Helene began a week before the storm hit, well before anyone knew it would actually strike Greenville.

Greenville City Manager Shannon Lavrin prepared a 65-page PowerPoint presentation for city officials that offered a tick-tock assessment of everything the city did to get ready and how they managed the aftermath.

Planning began on Sept. 20 as city officials monitored Helene, then just forming in the Gulf of Mexico. First up, order fuel.

By Sept. 24, rain ahead of the storm was causing damage in various parts of the city and a microburst hit the Greenville Zoo. Buildings and animals were okay, but there were many downed trees. Downtown’s treasured treescape was damaged as well.

Greenville City Fire responded to 114 incidents in 24 hours and additional firefighters were called in to staff three water-rescue teams and one high-water vehicle.

Helene was still three days away.

Overnight on Sept. 27, the storm hit. Torrential rains, wind gusts, flash floods. The Reedy River surged through the downtown with such force it was impossible to see the 28-foot drop of Reedy River Falls.

In all, 90% of residents were without power. Two thirds of traffic lights did not work. All personnel, fire apparatus and vehicles are called back to work.

Within days, seven people would die:

• Aaron Marshall Lance, 40, a ham radio operator, a tree fell on him. Leardna Lee Palmer, 56, a tree fell on her home.

• Charles Daly Dean III, 59, adventurer, tree fell through the roof.

• Moreno Arnez Maddox, 68, auto mechanic, struck by a tree outside his home.

• Ceresa Butler, 54, house fire.

• James Walter Parrish, 47, truck driver, tree collided with his motorcycle.

• Alex Fields, 26, Marine Corps veteran, motorcycle collided with a vehicle where traffic lights were not functioning.

Fire crews responded to 302 emergency incidents over the next 24 hours. Fire prevention staff went to senior living facilities and assisted Meals on Wheels in delivering food.

One downtown sculpture was damaged.

Police manned drones for hours to assess damage.

The city’s Engineering Services department staff divided into eight teams to install generators to power traffic signals. Ten generators were stolen.

Public Works crews worked alongside Duke Energy to speed up their restoration work, an unprecedented effort.

Debris hauling began Sept. 29.

So far, 260,000 cubic yards of debris have been collected, and the effort likely will continue until Thanksgiving, Lavrin said.

By the time it is done, the debris will equal 15 football fields, 10 feet high.

“Every city department has played a part in our recovery efforts and employees whose homes were damaged came to work every day to help our residents and businesses,” Lavrin told City Council. “We have also received tremendous support from our community and we are very grateful.”

This story was originally published November 1, 2024 at 6:00 AM.