The Laurens County Water and Sewer Commission board has issued an official resolution of thanks to all the electrical suppliers for Laurens County, agencies, businesses, and individuals who contributed to the Hurricane Helene response.
Despite having just one operator on duty at the Lake Greenwood Water Treatment Plant when the hurricane ravaged Laurens and surrounding Western SC counties, the agency never failed to provide water and sewer services. LCWSC has $5.4 Million in total assets serving the bulk of Laurens County with safe-to-drink water.
Lake Greenwood came close to, but never exceeded, full pool, the agency’s board was told at its Tuesday morning meeting. Even so, calculations are that the equivalent of 16 BILLION gpd (gallons per day) of water passed through the agency’s four rivers’ monitoring stations (Saluda, Reedy, North Rabon and South Rabon) at the storm’s height.
The water plant normally is called on to produce 2.1 Million gpd to meet Laurens County’s needs. At the height of the storm, there were 5.3 Million gpd passing through the plant.
Basically, it was “maxed out”.
On generator power.
By the time the storm subsided later on Sept. 27, LCWSC technicians went about the work of clearing fallen trees from their own driveways and assisting with trees-clearing on the secondary roads of Laurens County.
Then, they started fixing water and sewer lines, and meters torn from the ground by tree roots. Office personnel started handling frantic calls about “will I lose my water” and “my well won’t pump” because there was no power.
Three people died in Laurens County as a result of the massive storm.
At the start of the board meeting, Executive Director Jeff Field told the board, “I’m very thankful for the people we have working for us, and I’m sure you are, too.”
His concluding remarks, after an extensive Hurricane Helene response review, were, “I’m extremely happy with how our folks responded. What we planned for, worked.”
It was the unexpected from the “storm of a lifetime” that will require mitigation. For instance, LCWSC is now considering the purchase of a 500-gallon diesel fuel tank to fuel the LCWSC vehicles that run on potentially scarce-during-the-storm diesel.
Field said HD Payne did a great job supplying the agency with the vital fuel.
LCWSC also will look into building a second clear-well at the Lake Greenwood plant, since the one well there now nearly was overwhelmed by excess water and sand coming from upstream. That is a $2 Million expense.
The Lake Greenwood Water Treatment Plant was running “wide open,” the board was told, on generator-power. Also, Field said, everyone was relying on electronic devices for communications, and these were spotty at best. Satellite phones, once the technology is perfected, or old-school communications may need to be installed as a back-up, he said. At the water treatment plant, Field said, “We need a way an operator can communicate with the world.”
“We won’t make that mistake again,” Engineering Manager KC Price said about having just one operator on duty as a deadly hurricane approached from the south, coming ashore at the Big Bend of Florida and wrecking communities northward.
LCWSC is advertising for and hiring water plant technicians and is conducting a jobs-fair-type gathering for high school students to potentially interest them in these careers.
Damas Mattison, regulatory compliance and operations manager, said Helene was the most damaging event he has seen in a 2-decades career.
He reported to the board that at 2:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, LCWSC got its first indication that something was wrong.
From a monitoring station in Waterloo, there came a signal of power flickers. Generators were kicking in.
Generators at the water treatment plant and the raw-water intake on Lake Greenwood ran continuously for 5 consecutive days. Generators ran pumps at the water tanks and pumping stations.
These machines’ dependability was outstanding, Field said.
Mattison said, “The generators played a big part in keeping us running. The generators ran well.”
LCWSC moved a portable generator into the area of the Johnson Detention Center, between Laurens and Clinton, to ensure that the county jail had water. A massive pumping station on Raider Road, near Laurens, will have a natural gas generator coming on-line within the next month. LCWSC also will look at installing some solar panels at water tanks and pumping stations in the future, the board was told.
LCWSC is tracking all expenses related to the storm for a submission for reimbursement to FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), which designated Laurens County eligible for all governmental and individual assistance programs. In even-harder-hit Western North Carolina, FEMA is battling mistrust of the government as it tries to extend aid into towns and villages wiped out by flash flooding.
FEMA-assistance technicians were at a Team SC event at the Laurens County campus of Piedmont Technical College, and at Laurens’ Public Library and Clinton’s MS Bailey Municipal Building, to talk to people who need help and to assist in processing claims, without any incidents.
No dollar estimate for response in Laurens County has been announced yet; the County Council is scheduled to meet Monday evening. Neighboring Spartanburg County has said it estimates cleanup costs will exceed $10 Million. An official there said, normally, FEMA covers 75%, the state covers 12.5% and the county covers 12.5%.
The LCWSC board-approved resolution commending its employees and its response partners says, in part, “These efforts helped ensure the continuation of clean water and reliable wastewater services preventing further hardship to our residents and enabling the recovery process to continue in earnest and … the spirit of cooperation, generosity and shared purpose demonstrated by our partners during this critical time reflects the strength and unity of our broader community …” as it lists the community partners and neighboring utilities which assisted the LCWSC and its customers.
The resolution also acknowledges and appreciates “all those who work around the clock” to restore and maintain essential services to the community, “as we rebuild stronger and more resilient.”
Field said this is by no means a comprehensive list of responders, and others whose efforts likely never will be known.
Field said, “It was a tremendous effort by all in Laurens County.”
