Greenville is known for its lush trees. Hurricane Helene turned them into weapons.

GREENVILLE — The day after Helene landed a generational blow to the Upstate, felled trees choked nearly every city block and crooked bend in country roads, telling the tale of the storm's power — with residents and businesses left clawing their way through the aftermath.

The trees, many wrapped in dangerous power lines, mangled homes and blocked normally busy streets. A handful or residents counted themselves lucky to have electricity as tens of thousands remained in the dark.

Greenville and its surroundings bore the brunt of Helene's worst winds in South Carolina, which hit around sunrise Sept. 27, according to the National Weather Service. The wind gauge at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport topped out at 68 mph. Anderson registered at 72 mph, with downtown Greenville at 64 mph.

Along the coast, such winds would be disruptive. In the Upstate, trees weak or dead for decades haven't faced such force. Now, they have brought daily life to a surreal standstill.

"This is a situation that will take many days, perhaps weeks, to fix," Greenville officials said in statement.

With all this, a full day after the storm, residents awoke Sept. 28 to a balmy, clear sky. Many took stock of the damage. 

Karen and Carl Sobocinski, local restaurateurs, were up early clearing an 80-foot oak tree from their front yard in the upscale North Main community.

“Thankfully, it didn’t squash the house,” Karen Sobocinski said.

She said they were up during the storm and heard about eight booms around the neighborhood. The giant tree in their own yard took out part of the fence and lay across North Main Street.

Four sets of cones blocked portions of North Main still on Saturday morning. Cars drove around them, some at high speed.

Karen Sobocinski said that all of their Table 301 restaurants were open today but about half of the employees are stuck at home because of storm damage. The couple said they are going to try to clean up as much as they can before heading to the Clemson football game this evening.

Up the street, Joe Delaney was on his roof with a chainsaw. He and his son, Jay, were home at about 7 a.m. during the storm's peak when their 90-foot front-yard oak tree crashed down on the roof.

Living with the damage

Across town in the traditionally underprivileged City View community west of downtown Greenville, Jose Mora said he and his family, with nowhere else to go, will have to stay in their damaged home.

Mora was jolted from his sleep around 6 a.m. Friday morning as Helene's worst set in. A crash sounded.

Mora, a 63-year-old roofer from Costa Rica, immediately woke his brother, three nephews and two children who were staying with him in the house on Woodside Avenue.

They ran outside to their front porch to find two giant oak trees in his next door neighbor’s yard had fallen: one across their driveway and into their yard, blocking their cars and crushing their playset, and the other right into their neighbor’s home.

Mora was terrified. He and the others ran over to the house where four people lived to check on them. The tree had fallen directly through the walls and roof, crushing the house like it was made of cardboard.

“We were scared,” he said. “And the sound of the wind and rain — it was so loud.”

Fortunately, his neighbors were unharmed. The same could not be said for their home, however. The roof and chimney were crushed.

The neighbors packed up their belongings into two cars and left.

Mora did not know where.

He sent videos of the fallen trees to his landlord. His home was mostly undamaged: a small leak in the roof that he fixed himself, some planter boxes on the front porch that were smashed. But the trees were blocking the driveway and sprawled across the front yard.

The landlord promised to send help but warned he was overwhelmed by the storm.

Mora and his family decided to work on the problem themselves. They used chainsaws to cut off limbs and stacked some of the wood in the front yard. But there was not much they could do about the trunk that blocked the driveway.

Mora said he doesn't have anywhere else to go in Greenville. Like many others, they lost power around 4 a.m. Friday and don't know when it will be back.

“We were scared, but we’re OK now,” he said. “We’re going to stay here.”

The dichotomy of downtown

Downtown Greenville was teeming with people, creating an almost festival-like atmosphere — made possible because much of the central core has electricity.

Diners packed sidewalk tables. Voyeurs came to witness the city's rite of passage in Greenville when torrential rains fall: the swelled and raging Reedy River Falls.

Meanwhile, city workers toiled throughout the day, ultimately reopening Falls Park in the afternoon for what the city said is needed "outdoor refuge." Other signature city parks like Unity Park and Cleveland Park remain closed and under water.

Duke Energy has tried to answer questions about why people aren't seeing utility workers fixing power lines in neighborhoods.

The reason, a spokesman said, is because the company has to address larger distribution lines and substations first, then must assess damage and follow a plan that gives first preference to crucial functions like hospitals and first responders.

The city in its latest update said it must focus on clearing roadways for now — they'll eventually come back and pick up what's been pushed aside — and can't address trees with power lines until Duke can attest it's safe to do so.

"We are trying to get more Duke resources here to assist," the city said. "We have the manpower for tree clearing and tree cutting. We need utility assistance before we can make that happen."

Amid the crowds, City Manager Shannon Lavrin stressed safety as a top priority after surveying storm damage with first responders on Saturday.

"If you were to touch an energy power line, it could electrocute you," she said. "So at this point, if there's any kind of debris in the roadways, we would ask you to leave that for our professional teams."

As trees crush Overbrook, restaurants empty inventory

Those lucky enough to live within walking distance of entertainment headed to spots like Clare’s Creamery, which sold 85 gallons of ice cream Friday evening.

Saturday morning, owner Caitlin Hayes was at the local ice cream store in the heart of the Overbrook neighborhood trying to salvage 700 gallons of ice cream.

She and her team had made extra in the previous weeks to allow for her to take some time off with her family. She was charging a freezer truck in the hopes that it would suffice to keep the ice cream until power could be restored at her stores.

If not, it was likely Clare’s would not have enough product to be open for nearly two weeks.

Across the parking lot, staff members of Fork & Plough had set up a makeshift parking lot cookout complete with Bob Marley playing over a speaker. The staff used a generator and a portable flat top grill and catering equipment to serve a limited menu of meatballs, sausage lasagna, steak quesadillas, chicken paella and bacon and egg biscuits.

Beer, wine and mimosas were also available for purchase.

As all of Overbrook was, the restaurant was without power, so the parking lot party was an effort to both feed people who needed food but also to help them use their stock of fresh produce and meats while they could.

Restaurant chef and co-owner Shawn Kelly said they’d serve until they sold out.

A call from far away

Other people still sifting through storm damage planned to leave the city entirely. 

Cindy Jennings, 66, had been in Atlanta visiting her daughter and newborn grandchild when her phone rang around 7:30 a.m. Friday morning.

“Cindy, you have a tree on your house,” her neighbor told her.

Jennings, who lives in West Greenville, bought her house with her husband on North Leach Street two years ago in efforts to get away from Atlanta traffic.

They loved the beautiful old trees that surrounded their home. But early Friday morning, their dream relocation turned into a nightmare.

A tree across the street fell around 3 a.m., taking down utility lines with it and breaking through the Jennings’ front porch. A tree in their backyard also fell and smashed their shed full of Christmas decorations, a lawnmower and what Jennings called “junk.”

Farther down the block, two other neighbors had to be rescued from their homes by the Greenville Fire Department Friday morning after trees fell on both of their houses. The homes stood deserted Saturday morning, buried under debris. 

In front of the Jennings’ home, the street was littered with branches, leaves, broken power lines and a utility pole. Their front porch roof was torn, and metal sheeting hung from exposed wood beams. Behind Jennings, neighbors revved a chainsaw before hacking off more limbs from the fallen tree. 

“I guess it’s a good learning lesson for everybody,” she said. “Maybe we need to do a better job maintaining our trees.”

While the damage was mostly contained to the front of Jennings' home, others were not so lucky. 

Back on North Main Street, a newly renovated white brick home lost about half of its roof and a bedroom during the storm when a 100-foot tulip poplar with an 18-foot root ball sliced through in the early morning hours.

“It was the only bedroom in the house that didn’t have someone in it,” owner Geena Volmuth said.

Volmuth bought her 1930s-era home on North Main Street in 2022 and has spent the past two years making renovations. A designer, Volmuth said she plans to document the home’s recovery and her love for historic properties on her Instagram account.

“We are very, very grateful,” Volmuth said.

Lillia Callum-Penso contributed