SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) – Over a million people are still without power in the southeastern part of the United States following Hurricane Helene.

Several South Dakotans are now on their way to the region to help rebuild.

20 electric installers from five different companies in South Dakota are en route to help restore power to an area of ​​northwest South Carolina.

KELOLAND News caught up with them before they headed out.

“This will be my first hurricane, so I don’t really know what to expect,” said Sioux Valley Energy lineman Jeremy Rollag.

One by one, the power squads rolled into the Flying J parking lot to gather before heading out.

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“Yesterday they sent out a text message from our operations manager wanting to know who would be interested in helping,” Rollag said.

Rollag is one of the crew members who volunteered.

Wade Bialas of East River Electric is another.

“I’ve never been down there myself, so I don’t know what to expect. I heard everything from swampland to hills, so probably a wide variety of things we could encounter,” Bialas said.

Like so many areas in the Southeast, South Carolina is currently dealing with many downed poles and power lines.

Restoring power is what these guys do.

They are used to responding to wind storms and ice storms. The working conditions down there could be a little more demanding, they say, but they are ready for anything.

Crews say it will take them about 20 hours to get there and hope to be at work by Friday. As for the expected length of stay, they were told to pack for two weeks.

“It’s just the Midwest mentality, you know, whenever there’s a problem, it’s always nice to help. It’s a little further away than we’re used to, but if we can help in any way, it’s always nice to help out,” Bialas said.

“We’re always willing to help because we have a lot of storms of our own here and we bring crews from all over so we’re always willing to help, it’s just our nature,” Rollag said.

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