Duke Energy assessing damage from the severe storm that has caused hundreds of thousands of outages

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Duke Energy crews will work throughout the night to assess damage and restore power to customers who lost service after a severe storm moved through the Carolinas today.

Earlier this evening, there were more 350,000 customers, mostly in North Carolina, who were without power. The hardest hit counties included Wake, Forsyth, Mecklenburg, Johnston, Moore, Guilford, Lee and Rockingham.

Customers in the hardest hit counties should prepare for a multi-day outage.

Anyone without power who has special needs or who relies on electric-powered life support equipment should consider finding alternative living arrangements until power can be restored.

Additional information, including estimated times of restoration, will be available tomorrow morning after damage assessments are complete.

Duke Energy will bring additional crews from its other service territories as well as outside agencies to assist with the restoration process.

Customers should continue to report outages through Duke Energy's automated phone systems:

  • Duke Energy – 800-769-3766 (800-PowerOn)
  • Duke Energy Progress (North and South Carolina) – 800-419-6356

Using these automated systems is the quickest and easiest way for customers to report their outages. By entering a phone number or Duke Energy account number, the customer's outage will be recorded in the company's system and included in restoration plans. Customers can continue to use these resources to get up-to-date information about their outages once restoration times are determined.

Customers can also follow Duke Energy on Twitter and Facebook for current updates.

Safety

Safety remains critically important during restoration efforts. Avoid downed power lines. They should be considered energized and dangerous. Please call 911 and Duke Energy to report downed lines.

On the roads, please slow down or move over if you see Duke Energy crews or emergency management crews working along the side the road. Help make sure the folks working to restore power finish the job and get home to their families safely. 

Duke Energy Carolinas owns nuclear, coal-fired, natural gas and hydroelectric generation. That diverse fuel mix provides approximately 20,000 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 2.4 million customers in a 24,000-square-mile service area of North Carolina and South Carolina.

Duke Energy Progress, a subsidiary of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), provides electricity and related services to nearly 1.5 million customers in North Carolina and South Carolina. The company is headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., and serves a territory encompassing more than 34,000 square miles including the cities of Raleigh, Wilmington and Asheville in North Carolina and Florence and Sumter in South Carolina. More information is available at www.progress-energy.com.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 250 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available at: www.duke-energy.com.