Hurricane Helene barreled into Upstate South Carolina in the early hours of Sept. 27, leaving many roadways in hazardous condition.
The storm’s powerful winds — which peaked near 70 mph in Greenville County — knocked down trees and power lines. Many roads were impassable.
Compounding the problem, traffic signals stopped working across the region. Every traffic signal in the city of Greenville — a total of 207 — lost power after the storm. Some remained out for several days. The situation was similar throughout Greenville County and across the Upstate.
The Greenville Police Department saw an uptick in collisions as people began to drive after the storm passed. According to the police department, 39 roadway collisions occurred in the city from Sept. 27 to Sept. 29.
Sgt. Johnathan Bragg with the Greenville Police Department said a significant number of the collisions were due to nonoperational traffic signals. Specifically, he said the accidents were a result of drivers not understanding what to do when a traffic light is out.
Traffic collisions
Master Trooper Mitchell Ridgeway with the South Carolina Highway Patrol said drivers must come to a complete stop at a traffic light when it is off. At a four-way intersection, drivers must treat it as a four-way stop where the first car to arrive has the right of way. This remains true regardless of the relative size of the roads.
A person puts themselves at risk of being hit or hitting another car if they disregard the law and drive through an intersection without stopping. Ridgeway explained that exact situation resulted in a fatal car accident Oct. 2 at a Spartanburg County intersection.
“We made the decision to put people there to hand-direct traffic instead of letting them do it on their own. Driving over the county, I didn’t see a lot of other agencies that were doing that.” — Sgt. Stephen McLean, Mauldin Police Department
A major traffic collision also took place in Greenville Sept. 29 due to the traffic light being out at the intersection of Laurens and Airport roads. The accident occurred when a car drove through the intersection and hit an out-of-state bucket truck that came to assist with storm cleanup. Five people were injured and transported to an area hospital for treatment.
Similar types of accidents caused by nonfunctioning traffic lights were also seen across Greenville County following Helene. Sgt. Stephen McLean with the Mauldin Police Department said two minor traffic accidents occurred within the city due to a traffic light being out.
Police response
McLean estimated 10 to 15 traffic lights went out in Mauldin as a result of Helene. The Mauldin Police Department assigned officers to help direct traffic at two major intersections where the traffic lights were off, to reduce the risk of major collisions. These intersections were North Main Street and West Butler Road, and West Butler Road and Ashmore Bridge Road.
“We made the decision to put people there to hand-direct traffic instead of letting them do it on their own,” McLean said. “Driving over the county, I didn’t see a lot of other agencies that were doing that.”
To minimize the number of traffic accidents, the Greenville Police Department discouraged people from driving on the roads immediately following the storm. Bragg said responding to traffic collisions diverted the police department’s resources away from other emergencies created by Helene.
The Greenville Police Department also focused on educating people on what to do at intersections where the traffic lights were off. Bragg said the department did not have officers out directing traffic.
“It’s more so just reacting because we also don’t want our officers to be just, you know, driving around in the mess and trying to, you know, prevent it and then end up getting in a collision as well with someone that’s disregarded a traffic signal,” Bragg said.
Bragg said some of the traffic lights at major intersections in Greenville were able to be quickly restored by using the generators the city’s traffic engineering team had on hand. As of Oct. 4, 97% of the traffic lights in the city were back on.
“We’re seeing it’s starting to return back to normal, you know, with the power being restored in most of the areas in the city as far as the roadways at least,” Bragg said. “We’re fortunate for that.”
Traffic signal outage
Clint Link, the city of Greenville’s director of engineering services, said all 207 traffic signals stopped working due to a loss of power in Greenville. Approximately 162 of the signals have battery backups that only last three to four hours.
“The traffic signal at Pleasantburg and northbound I-385 sustained damage and we are awaiting equipment to repair it,” Link said in an email. “The traffic signal at Butler Avenue-Hampton Avenue was a total loss due to tree falls and will have to be completely rebuilt once the trees are cleared.”
Traffic accidents
The number of roadway collisions that occurred in the city of Greenville, according to the Greenville Police Department:
- 39 total roadway collisions from Sept. 27-29 (following Hurricane Helene)
- 40 total roadway collisions from Sept. 20-22
- 25 roadway collisions from Sept. 13-15
- 27 roadway collisions from Sept. 6-8
What to do when a traffic light is out
When a traffic light is out, drivers must treat the light as a stop sign. A nonfunctioning traffic light at an intersection means that drivers must treat it as a four-way stop where the first car to arrive has the right of way.
