05-03-2025
Duke Energy prepares, responds to outages throughout NC
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — By Wednesday afternoon, thousands of Duke Energy customers were out of power as strong winds moved across central North Carolina.
Those outages began in western North Carolina in the early morning, arriving in the central portion of the state by lunchtime.
With a few winter storms under their belt, Duke Energy workers were prepared for strong winds and for the potential of tornadoes.
Garrett Poorman, a spokesperson for the utility company, said no two outages are the same so their crews remained flexible to handle whatever Mother Nature brought.
The concern was not so much for the wind knocking down poles but for trees or limbs to fall on lines. It's why Duke Energy said their prep work for any storm involves technology and old fashioned manpower.
'Preparations look like making grid improvements across our system that includes tree trimming around power lines, installing smart grid technology with self-healing technology that can reduce the number of outages for our customers, and also working to upgrade poles and lines and other equipment that are essential to our infrastructure,' Poorman said.
Duke Energy is largely alerted when an outage is occurring but they still encourage people to report outages when they happen.
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