CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As Helene brings heavy rain, high winds and potentially historic flooding to the Carolinas, thousands of people have lost power due to the storm.
As of 9 a.m. Friday, Duke Energy reported over 1 million total outages in the Carolinas. Of those, 483,715 were in North Carolina, with 591,141 in South Carolina. Over 84,000 Mecklenburg County customers are without power. South Carolina Emergency Management said over 1.3 million customers were without power. Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich confirmed South Carolina has the most power outages in the country as of 9 a.m.
York Electric Cooperative reported approximately 27,800 outages as of 9 a.m. The majority of the company's outages were in York County, where 25,000 customers were without electricity. Another 1,700 Lancaster County customers lost power.
The number of power outages is expected to grow as Helene moves north into the Carolinas. The storm is expected to drench the region with heavy rain and damaging winds through at least midday Friday. And once the storm is gone, it's unclear how long it will take crews to restore electricity to everyone.
Helene was downgraded to a tropical storm at 5 a.m. Friday but heavy rain, gusty winds and life-threatening flooding are still impacting the Carolinas.
A Tornado Watch is in place through 6 p.m. for portions of the Charlotte area. This includes Chesterfield, Lancaster, Chester, Anson, Cabarrus, Gaston, Union (NC), Richmond and Mecklenburg counties.
Tropical Storm Watches and warnings are in place, including most of our viewing area. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Mecklenburg, Union, York, Chester, Gaston, Lincoln, Catawba, Cleveland, Burke, Caldwell and Avery counties. Impacted cities and towns include Banner Elk, Shelby, Lenoir, Morganton, Hickory, Newton, Gastonia, Charlotte, Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Chester, Lincolnton, Monroe, Huntersville, Matthews, and Cheraw.
Additionally, a Flood Watch is in place for Alexander, Catawba, Cleveland, Lincoln, Avery, Burke, Caldwell, Ashe, and Watauga counties.