AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – In Aiken, thousands of linemen and crews continue to work around the clock to help restore power to some of the hardest-hit communities.

The latest update comes from Aiken Electric Co-op, with some long estimated recovery times. In some places, four to five weeks are expected. To learn more about each outage, visit the website.

On Wednesday, we learned that Dominion Energy is partnering with the University of South Carolina Aiken to support approximately 300 crew members with housing, meals, laundry needs and more.

Dominion Energy officials say this staging area is just one of several throughout Aiken County.

They say providing resources to local people is crucial to getting things back to normal.

It’s an example of all-hands-on-state help in Georgia and South Carolina.

As the cleanup continues, hundreds of cots and supplies are available for linemen and crews.

“This is important because there are no hotel rooms available. “So by setting up facilities like this we can bring in outside teams that can assist us in the restoration efforts,” said Dominion Energy’s Greg McGlohorn.

According to Dominion Energy, about 50,000 customers are still without power – more than 30,000 of them in Aiken County.

On the state and federal side, FEMA and GEMA are still deploying thousands of crews in Georgia and South Carolina to provide residents with meals, water and cleaning supplies.

Ann Grammer with the Civil Air Patrol says she sees the difference this makes for those in need.

“I see all the numbers and all the happy faces of all the people coming by, like we just did one less thing for them,” Grammer said.

FEMA alone has already received more than 100,000 applications for assistance in Georgia and South Carolina.

GEMA continues to support counties such as Columbia, Richmond and 39 others throughout Georgia.

Agencies helping on the ground say the mission is challenging for workers, but they continue to do their jobs.

Elizabeth Peace of the Civil Air Patrol said: “They were sleeping in tents. They have been sleeping in empty buildings for the last few days, giving up their time because they wanted to help.”

Workers say they know how important this type of work is to the hardest-hit communities and that it is worth it.

Grammer said: “It can mean a lot to people. It means a lot to us to be here. We really enjoy doing this kind of work. We love helping people. We love seeing their faces. We love providing them with the resources they need.”

As of a few hours ago, about 45,000 people in areas inside and outside of Aiken are still without power, according to Dominion Energy.

Like other federal and state resources, they continue to bring in outside assistance from other states to assist in the recovery.

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