CLAY COUNTY – Most of the county was relieved to be spared the wrath of Hurricane Helene’s fury Thursday and Friday, but that was little solace to some who still were without power Friday afternoon as crews tried to repair fallen lines and cut away downed trees.

According to Clay County Emergency Management Director Tim Devin, many trees were downed, including some on homes. At the storm’s peak, almost half the county was without power.

“We do have a lot of citizens that are without power,” Devin said. “We are going to start doing damage assessments to see where we stand, and we’re going to prioritize those. We have the high life-hazard main roads we want to look at to try and get open.”

Clay Electric Cooperative said more than 17,000 customers were still without power at 2:20 p.m. Friday. Still, that number was reduced to 5,000 by 5 p.m. – about 14 hours after Helene carved a destructive path through Florida before turning its fury on Georgia, North and South Carolina and Tennessee.

Helene made landfall 10 miles west of Perry as a Category 4 hurricane. It had Tropical Storm force sustained winds for some of the county, the National Weather Service said. Tropical Force winds are sustained speeds between 39-73 mph. The NWS noted portions of Orange Park, Green Cove Springs and Lake Asbury had sustained winds of 44 mph, with gusts as high as 70 mph at 12:53 a.m. Friday.

Keystone Heights and Camp Blanding had sustained winds measured at 33 mph with gusts of 52 mph, while Middleburg and Clay Hill had reported winds of 28 mph and gusts of 51 mph.

With 1.19 inches of rain reported in Middleburg, Helene was more of a wind event. While it forced some repairs and cleanup, no injuries or significant damages were reported.

“Our county fared pretty well,” Sheriff Michelle Cook said.

Five shelters were opened on Wednesday at five Clay County schools, but all were closed by Friday.

Devin said much of the damage was reported in Keystone Heights, Clay Hill and the Camp Blanding areas.

Linemen from Clay Electric replaced two poles that snapped during the storm. The poles affected power in the Lake Asbury area on Arthur Moore Drive.

There were 200 reports of damage to the Call Center. One was a tree that fell on a house on Fleming Island. Ashby Graves said he went to bed at 12:45 a.m. on Friday in the same neighborhood and woke up to a large branch from an oak tree in his yard blocking his neighbor’s driveway.

“I was sitting on my back porch, and I could hear all the transformers blowing up occasionally,” Graves said. “I didn’t hear that branch fall. When I woke up, I thought, ‘I have a lot of work today. At least it didn’t fall on anything.’”

Graves said it would take two days to remove the debris with the help of neighbors.

“At least we got the worst of it done on the first day,” he said. “That was a big branch. We got lucky it didn’t break anything.”

State and local officials worked tirelessly before the storm to minimize damage and injury.

The Clay County District Schools canceled classes last Tuesday for Thursday and Friday before Helene.

To ensure everyone could get to a safe shelter location, UBER offered a $35 credit to any of the five shelters.

Also, Saturday’s annual Touch a Truck: What Moves Clay County was postponed. While the threatening weather was hundreds of miles away, first responders were still busy cleaning and restoring services. No makeup date has been determined.