Duke: Power back by 11 p.m. Thursday
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Duke Energy crews continue to make progress in restoring power to customers impacted by the severe weather system that moved through the area overnight.
Rowan’s power is expected to be restored by 11 p.m. Thursday, along with Cabarrus, Davidson and Iredell counties. Davie’s power problems should be solved by 11 p.m. today.
Sixty-to-70-mile-per-hour wind gusts and driving rain uprooted large trees, downed power poles and power lines.
As of 4:30 a.m. today, Duke Energy had restored approximately 169,000 customer outages in its Carolinas service area. At the peak of the storm at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning, more than 256,000 customers were without power.
“This storm has created a large number of outages across our entire Carolinas service area,” said Jim Stanley, Duke Energy’s senior vice president of power delivery. “We have all available crew members in the field and have secured more than 960 additional workers from our Midwest service area and other utilities.”
Estimated times of restoration indicate when the majority of outages in a specific area are expected to be restored. Many customers will have service restored sooner than the estimated times. There also may be scattered, isolated outages remaining beyond these times depending on individual cases.
Duke Energy’s restoration process focuses on a method that will return power to the greatest number of customers as safely, quickly and efficiently as possible.
Emphasis is placed on vital public health and safety facilities such as hospitals, law enforcement, fire departments, water treatment facilities and pumping stations.
Storm damage photos are available on Flickr in the following set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dukeenergy/sets/72157626434443348/.
Storm-related information and Duke Energy restoration updates can be accessed online at: http://www.duke-energy.com; via Twitter at http://twitter.com/DukeEnergyStorm ; and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DukeEnergyStorm.
Customers may report power outages by calling Duke Energy’s automated 1-800-POWER-ON (1-800-769-3766) number. Spanish-speaking customers should call toll free at 1-866-427-2466. If customers need to speak on the phone with a representative, they may experience extended wait times.