Isaias leaves tens of thousands without power in North Carolina
About 45,000 North Carolina customers were still without power Wednesday morning, a day after Tropical Storm Isaias made its way up the state.
Isaias, which made landfall late Monday as a Category 1 hurricane, swept through the state overnight, unleashing high winds, heavy rain, flooding and possible tornadoes.
At least 44,716 customers didn’t have electricity as of 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety. The counties with the most outages were near the coast, statewide figures show.
New Hanover County, home to Wilmington, had the most outages as of 8:15 a.m., with more than 10,000 customers without power. Neighboring Brunswick County had about 9,000 outages.
The number of outages continued to drop as Isaias moved further away from North Carolina. About 362,000 outages were reported at 7 a.m. Tuesday.
The latest statewide figures include about 22,000 customers of Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress.
Duke Energy said Monday afternoon it had “more than 2,200 workers prepared to respond to power outages” caused by the storm.
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The company said fallen trees and other conditions can already make restoring power difficult, but the coronavirus pandemic poses extra risks.
“Now, in addition to addressing those standard challenges, Duke Energy’s detailed storm response plan has incorporated CDC recommendations for COVID compliance and social distancing measures to help keep customers and communities safe,” the company said on its website.
North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives had nearly 10,000 without power as of 8:15 a.m. Wednesday. When conditions were safe, the utility provider said it also would take precautions while working to restore service.
“These measures include health screenings, smaller groups with increased physical distancing, limited sharing of equipment, and stringent cleaning and disinfection practices,” North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives said Monday. “These safety measures may increase outage response times.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 7:37 AM.
