Hurricane Irma: 77K Wake Up To Power Outage In North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, NC -- Hurricane Irma’s overnight push through the Carolinas forced tens of thousands of North Carolina to wake up to power outages, according to state emergency officials.

According to North Carolina Emergency Management, 77,116 homes were without power in the state at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. Of that amount, 63,283 were Duke Energy customers and 13,832 were customers of electrical cooperatives.

By 6 a.m. Tuesday, Irma was about 65 miles southwest of Atlanta, moving north-northwest at 16 mph. The storm killed at least nine people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina and dozens in the Caribbean and Cuba with a death toll of 42, according to ABC News. Almost eight million homes and businesses were left without power, a number amassing to about two-thirds of the entire state of Florida.

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Duke Energy said Sept 11 that it had pre-positioned 4,500 workers to respond to the hardest hit areas in western North Carolina and the upstate of South Carolina, but warned customers that restoration of service could take several days.

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"More than 4,500 storm responders, including power line workers, tree professionals, damage assessors and support personnel, are positioned across North Carolina and South Carolina, ready to quickly respond to power outages wherever they occur," said Tim Tripp, Duke Energy's director of storm response for the Carolinas.

You can see Duke Energy’s current outage map here.

While the brunt of the storm has passed through the Carolinas, the National Weather Service warns that there’s still more potentially hazardous weather in store for western North Carolina and the upstate of South Carolina on Sept. 12.

“Isolated thunderstorms may be embedded within the remaining rain bands of Tropical Depression Irma moving north through the area,” NWS said Tuesday morning “Cloud-to-ground lightning and locally heavy rain are possible with these storms. A brief damaging wind gust or two could occur during the showers, even if thunder is not heard.”

If you’re a Duke Energy customer you can report a power outage by:

• Texting OUT to 57801 (standard text and data charges may apply)

• Calling the automated outage-reporting system at 800-769-3766 for Duke Energy Carolinas customers and 800-419-6356 for Duke Energy Progress customers.

• For storm or power restoration updates, follow Duke Energy on Twitter (@DukeEnergy) and Facebook (Duke Energy). For more information, visit www.duke-energy.com/irma.

Patch Editor Geoff Dempsey contributed to this article.

Image via Pixabay

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