CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After Hurricane Helene caused widespread damage across the region last week, at its height, more than 1.75 million customers were without power. Companies have worked hard to improve conditions for hurricane victims.
As of Sunday night, Duke Energy said over 130,000 customers in the Carolinas were without power, including nearly 71,000 of 149,000 customers in Buncombe County. The company said it's on track to restore a significant number of outages by the end of the week. Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday that state officials hope up to 90% of power will be restored statewide as early as Friday.
When Tropical Storm Helene swept through the area, the Gastonia Police Department told WCNC Charlotte there were more than 50 mature trees that needed to be removed, some of which were on electric lines. Crews always have to wait until it's been confirmed by the Electric Division those lines aren't live and are safe to begin cutting and removing the trees. All of the trees in roadways without electric lines in them were removed first.
Officials warn residents to not approach downed power lines in case they are active.
“Historic flooding, debris and road closures remain an incredible challenge to assessing the severe damage to our system and restoring power in the North Carolina mountains and South Carolina Upstate,” Jason Hollifield, Duke Energy storm director for the Carolinas, said. “Our crews appreciate our customers’ patience and support as they continue working around the clock to safely and quickly restore power.”
The number of power outages was expected to grow as Helene moved north into the Carolinas. The storm drenched the region with heavy rain and damaging winds through midday Friday. And despite the storm moving on from the area, it's unclear how long it will take crews to restore electricity to everyone because of how many were impacted.
Helene was downgraded to a tropical storm at 5 a.m. Friday but excessive rain, gusty winds and life-threatening flooding still impacted the Carolinas. Downtown Boone experienced significant flooding, with several inches of water rushing down King Street near the Mast General Store. Appalachian State University's football game for Saturday against Liberty was canceled and will not be made up, the school announced. The failure of Lake Lure Dam prompted mandatory evacuation