CleanSpark still to restore 165MW in aftermath of Hurricane Helene

United States Bitcoin mining firm CleanSpark says it is still working to turn the power back on across all its facilities in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene — which saw devastating flooding, power outages and widespread damage across several US states. 

The Bitcoin miner’s hashrate briefly fell from 28 exahashes per second to 10.5 EH/s when it was forced to shut down 365 MW at the southeast Georgia site shortly after the hurricane started on Sept. 27. 

However, CleanSpark has managed to turn 200 MW back online since then, increasing its current operating hash rate to 22 EH/s, CleanSpark’s CEO Zach Bradford noted in a Sept. 30 statement.

CleanSpark expects the remaining 165 MW to come back online no later than Oct. 4.

“Our teams are prepared to promptly restore normal operations as soon as power becomes available.”

The Bitcoin miner was able to maintain above 10.5 EH/s from its other facilities in northwest Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Devastating impact of Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina. Source: UPUK NEWS / X

Bradford said CleanSpark’s mining infrastructure hasn’t experienced any “material damage” from Hurricane Helene — which has been rated a category 4 (out of 5) hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. Bradford added:   

“We are not aware of any material losses related to our mining servers and will continue this evaluation as we energize the remaining sites.“

“Most importantly, all our team members are safe,” Bradford stressed.

Hurricane Helene death toll hits 137

Unfortunately, Hurricane Helene has taken at least 137 lives and damaged property in seven US states — Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia — CBS News reported.

Houses were nearly entirely flooded as a result of Hurricane Helene. Source: X

Winds reached up to 140 miles per hour, leading to road closures and severe flooding in some areas. The death toll is expected to rise with hundreds of people still missing.

Related: China still controls 55% of Bitcoin hashrate despite crypto ban

Bitcoin’s hash rate has fluctuated between 538 EH/s and 745 EH/s since Hurricane Helene first landed on Sept. 27, according to crypto mining platform CoinWarz.

Bitcoin network’s change in hashrate over the last week. Source: CoinWarz

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