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-Information courtesy Tanya Evans, District Manager, Duke Energy
After yesterday’s tornados and torrential rain, we had a one-two punch today with early morning wind gusts causing additional damage. The saturated ground and heavy winds have resulted in hundreds of downed power lines, broken poles and snapped trees.
At this time, we have more than 4,000 Duke Energy crews working to restore power throughout the region with additional teams from the Midwest (300) and off system resources (180) from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Delaware and Virginia to bolster our restoration efforts.
While we are focused on restoring as many customers as quickly as possible, it’s important to note that, for employee safety, Duke Energy line technicians cannot perform elevated work in bucket trucks when winds (sustained or gusts) are above 30 miles per hour. Rest assured, however, we will work until every customer is restored.
As of 2 p.m. on Friday, February 7, there are approximately 60,000 customers without power across the state. In our region, the following counties have significant outages:
Franklin – 5,715
Nash – 2,417
Granville – 1,873
Person – 726
Until the winds completely subside, we expect these numbers to continue to fluctuate. For the most current update and further detail, please visit our outage map.
We understand our customers are anxious to have their power restored. Please encourage anyone who is experiencing an outage to report it. We have several options to do so:
- Use the Duke Energy mobile app – Download the Duke Energy App from a smartphone via Apple Store or Google Play
- Visit https://duke-energy.com on a desktop computer or mobile device.
- Text OUT to 57801 (standard text and data charges may apply).
- Call the automated outage-reporting system at DEP: 800.419.6356 or DEC: 1-800-POWERON (1-800-769-3766)
Finally, please be cautious if you venture out:
- Stay away from downed lines and any storm debris that could conceal downed power lines.
- Report hazardous situations/lines down at 1-800-POWERON (1-800-769-3766).
- Never drive through standing water.
- Take care around our crews: The “move over” law requires drivers to move over one lane when two or more lanes are available in each direction to make way for emergency responders, tow trucks, DOT incident management assistance patrols, and roadside work crews, such as utility crews. On roads with only one traffic lane in each direction, drivers must slow down and be prepared to stop. Violators could face fines.