Cookie Baker’s map is full of digital pins — chainsaw jobs that have been done, jobs that are ready to be done and job requests that still need to be assessed.

In total, as of Monday (Oct. 7), 643 people had requested help with tree removal in the wake of Hurricane Helene — and that’s not the end of the needs, said Baker, who is currently serving as the white hat leader for Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief in Clearwater, South Carolina.

“It is busy, wide open — people are still coming in asking for help and calling in with job requests,” she said.

Five ABDR chainsaw teams are currently based in Clearwater helping in the surrounding Aiken County area, along with one mobile feeding unit from Alabama that’s preparing meals. A South Carolina Baptist chainsaw team also joined them yesterday.

‘Could take weeks to finish’

Residents in the area “have got a mess up here,” Baker said, noting that many are still waiting to get electricity back on. Typically chainsaw teams can do several jobs in a day, but many of these job requests are daylong projects, she said — they might find 10 to 20 trees down at one house.

“This could take weeks to finish,” Baker said.

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This article was originally published at TheAlabamaBaptist.org.