Cody Baker walks to his vehicle in Asheville, N.C.,
Wednesday, after he lost control on an icy roadway. AP
Posted on 12/05/2002 8:47:52 AM PST by NautiNurse
Ice knocks out power to 1.4 million
Cody Baker walks to his vehicle in Asheville, N.C., Wednesday, after he lost control on an icy roadway. AP |
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An ice storm that Duke Power officials called the worst to ever hit the Carolinas caused emergency crews to scramble as they responded to downed trees, power outages and wrecks. Nearly 1.4 million customers were estimated without power.
Duke Power reported 1 million customers without power in the Carolinas. Energy company CP&L reported 375,000 of its Carolinas customers were also without power.
Duke Power said the outage total – which was still increasing – was the highest ever for an ice storm.
“This is the worst ice storm we’ve seen,” said E.O. Ferrell, senior vice president of electric distribution for Duke Power. “Significant accumulation of ice on trees and power lines have affected customers from Anderson, S. C., to Durham, N. C.”
The last major ice storm to cripple Duke Power, in February 1996, caused 650,000 outages. Hurricane Hugo, which swept through Charlotte in September 1989, caused 700,000 outages.
“Although we anticipate additional outage reports as people wake up this morning and temperatures remain around the freezing level, our crews will work as quickly and as safely as possible to restore service to customers,” Ferrell said. “Complete restoration may take several days. Duke Power customers may want to consider alternate locations due to the severity of this storm.”
As of 6 a.m., Duke Power reported 145,000 customers without power in Charlotte; 50,000 customers without power in the Gastonia area; 41,000 in Salisbury; 25,000 in Kannapolis; 24,000 in Hickory; and 19,000 in Shelby.
Duke Power’s Tom Williams said the utility company has called in extra help and realizes it is dealing with a major problem.
“Hugo was more concentrated,” he said. “This one is more spread out.”
When asked how long power might be out, Williams said, “I can’t even speculate. Certainly, it will take several days to get everybody back on line. But we’re not suggesting it will be 11-12 days like during Hurricane Hugo.”
Customers should treat all downed power lines as energized, as well as trees, tree limbs or any structure that the lines may be touching, Ferrell said.
The company’s first priority during large outages is to work on the major feeder lines, Ferrell said. “This will restore service to the largest number of customers in the shortest time. Once this ‘backbone’ of the system is repaired, we are able to move on to neighborhoods and individual customers with isolated problems.”
Among the victims of the power outages: NBC6 television. The station came on the air about 20 minutes late for its 5 a.m. news and was forced to broadcast from an alternate studio.
But there was good news for residents stuck at home with cabin fever: The area’s four major regional malls reported they all have power and are planning to open for business today. Carolina Place and Concord Mills were opening on schedule at 10 a.m.; SouthPark and Eastland malls planned to open at noon.
We here in Little Rock got the same ice storm. The forrests here still bear the scars of that one. Some parts of Arkansas were without power for 10 days! I had no power for 5. We here in the south are ill-prepared for such storms.
I went to school at KU and come up to Westport often. We will have to have a Freeper meeting in kcMo sometime!
Congrats on getting Talent elected.
We are sorry about Pryor!
Take care and stay warm!
Watching the transformers boom and blow up across the horizon - fun to see when you're a kid and everything is an adventure. Not so fun now. Am warm and hope to be warmer later but if the wind comes in tonight - well - prayers are welcome because huge pines near us coming down would slice our house in two. The temps have been just warm enough to let melting begin - and I am hoping for warmer still this afternoon. Without major melting - with wind tonight - we will be in worse shape tomorrow.
I couldn't shave in the dark, so I look a bit scruffy today. :(
LOL--that'll give you the special Paul Bunyan look when you play lumberjack in your yard. Glad to see you are online! Stay warm!
Freezing-rain/ice is a different story.
That stuff is horrible in North Carolina and far more dangerous than a little snow.
So I can understand why the locals freak out when such a storm hits.
But that little dusting of snow we had that morning... It still makes me laugh!!!
Plus, I couldn't make coffee at home. I HAD to come in. :)
ROFLMAO!!! The morning after Hurricane Fran, as soon as the chainsaws cleared the trees, I drove 30 miles to Burlington for a hot cup of coffee!
Class '77
During and after Hurricane Floyd, my gas camping stove and percolator were lifesaver!
I just love to hear good news coming from an otherwise nasty situation. Great story!
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