Tropical Storm Debby arrived in North Carolina early on Thursday morning, August 8, and it brought winds and heavy rains as well as flash flooding to Greensboro and Guilford County.
While those weather conditions caused a lot of people to stay home, Duke Energy workers ventured out on Thursday in an attempt to restore power to those without it.
As of noon on Friday, Aug. 9, there were only a few hundred homes and businesses without power in central North Carolina.
Those interested in following the recovery progress can check out Duke Energy’s online outage map.
As of 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, about 75,000 customers in the state were without power. In the Triad area, Duke Energy crews had made considerable progress throughout the day.
In Guilford County, at the high point, the number of outages hit about 13,000 on Thursday but was down to 3,464 by 4 p.m.
In Alamance County, at that same time, 747 homes and businesses lacked power, down from roughly 5,700 earlier in the day.
In Randolph County, the number of those lacking electricity hit a total of 4,000 and, by 4 p.m. was down to 559.
The power company used the storm to remind customers that, if rising water threatens your home or business, or if you evacuate due to flooding, be sure to turn off your power at the circuit breaker panel or fuse box before you leave.
Duke Energy officials also reminded area residents that electric currents pass easily through water, so always be sure to stay away from downed electrical lines.
Also, some people drive over downed electrical lines but that’s a very bad idea.
The company is also using the storm to remind people to never replace a fuse or touch a circuit breaker with wet hands, or while standing on a wet or damp surface.
If your home or business is flooded, Duke Energy can’t reconnect power until the electrical system has been inspected by a licensed electrician. If there’s damage, an electrician must make the necessary repairs and then the homeowner must obtain verification of repairs from a local building inspector before power can be restored.
Another piece of very good advice is to stay away from power lines that have fallen or are sagging.
“Consider all lines energized, as well as trees, limbs or anything in contact with lines,” the company warned this week.
In addition, if a power line falls across a car while you’re in it, stay inside unless doing so is an immediate risk. If you have to get out of the car – due to a fire or another immediate life-threatening situation – try your best to jump clear of the car and land on both feet. Also, attempt to make certain that no part of your body is touching the car when your feet land on the ground.
Downed lines may be hard to see during heavy rains and those lines can potentially be hidden in standing water. If you come across large pools of standing water, stop, back up and take another path.
For more information on how to prepare for and react to storms, google duke-energy.com/Storm Tips.
Duke Energy customers are also being encouraged to sign up for alerts that the company sends out during storms. You can get the most up-to-date information about restoration efforts by enrolling in the company’s outage alert service.
If you lose power during a storm, the easiest way to let Duke Energy know is by texting “OUT” to 57801.
You can also file a report of an outage online by using the company’s mobile app, or by calling 800-Poweron – which is 800-769-3766.
If you have any questions or concerns about your power, you can call 336-708-6913.
My Duke Energy bill for June was $249 (2600 sq ft house).
I’m scared to receive my July bill.
So far, we have escaped Gavin Newsom’s socialist paradise in California. If VP Harris wins, and carries Congress, your only escape is to leave the Country, revolt, or die.
That’s only 8 dollars a day Austin. Why are you crying. It’s a lot higher in other parts of the country
Why is Duke Energy just 3 percent Solar ?
Because solar, as well as wind, is a fool’s folly. The solar panels clutter up the landscape, make arable land unavailable for farming. There is no economical way to store energy for cloudy days and when the panels are damaged or reach their maximum life span of 15-20 years they are not recyclable. Placing them in landfills means toxic metals like cadmium, selenium and lead will leach into the groundwater. No one advocating solar ever considers the unintended and unplanned costs of building, replacing and disposing of the expensive infrastructure to utilize all that “free” energy. Projected energy needs into the 2040s cannot possibly be met with solar or wind even if every unoccupied square foot of space in America was given over to “green energy” production.
I realize that we pay a lot for our electricity, but I do appreciate all of the hard work the Duke Energy workers accomplished during the power outages. It is a really good feeling to have when you power is restored after an outage.
Looks like Austin has pulled a Chrissy act and disappeared