Thousands still without power after Friday's strong storms

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Thousands of people across the Carolinas are still without power Sunday, after strong storms rolled through the region late Friday night.

Falling trees not only wiped out power lines, but crushed cars and cut through homes.

IMAGES: Strong storms push through Friday night

Officials with Duke Energy said power should be restored by 11:45 p.m. Monday.

The American Red Cross opened a shelter Sunday for Mecklenburg County residents without power at Northwest School of the Arts at 1415 Beatties Ford Road. The shelter will remain open until 7 p.m.

Workers tell us this is why residents in Merry Oaks don't have power. Must fix this before other lines. @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/8ITYUsyKSA
— Alexa Ashwell (@AlexaAshwell) July 10, 2016

At the height of the storms, an estimated 65,000 customers were without power in the viewing area.

At one point, The Charlotte Fire Department tweeted that they could not take any non-emergency calls, urging people only to call 911 in case of a "true emergency" because of their call volume.

There were nearly 160 traffic incidents at one point in Mecklenburg County, according to CMPD, and the storms prompted severe thunderstorm warning and an abundant amount of lightning, causing fires around the area.

About 1,400 people in Dilworth were without power since 9 p.m. Friday after a huge tree ripped down power lines.

Neighbors want to know when things will get back to normal, but that is a question yet to be answered.

“I think what's complicated, is we've had storms every day of the week affecting somewhere,” said Duke spokesperson Randy Wheeless. “What we're doing right now is trying to get the most people back on as quickly as possible."

LINK: Duke Energy outage map

As of Saturday night, Duke Energy said they had more than 350 line personnel working across Mecklenburg, Gaston and Wilkes counties.

Those crews will be joined by an additional 285 off-system crews later in the night, and 395 line workers descended on the hardest hit areas Sunday morning.

Lots of clean up after last night's storm. Tree down on a business in #PlazaMidwood #Charlotte @WSOCWeather @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/kkTSMKUHne
— Blaine Tolison (@BTolisonWSOC9) July 9, 2016

Monica Levow and her family were in the middle of packing their west Charlotte home, preparing to move across town. Now that they're one of thousands of homes still without power, they’re packing coolers with ice to keep some food necessities, like milk, eggs, coffee creamer and the kids food, from going bad.

"Probably about 70 percent of the food in the fridge is probably going to go bad," Levov said.

More than 24 hours after severe thunderstorms ripped through the area, nearly 25,000 Mecklenburg County homes were still without power.

"We just didn't see this storm coming because it was so sunny one minute and the sky was black the next," Levov told Channel 9.

The family plans to stay with a relative to keep their three young kids out of the house without air conditioning as much as possible.

ALERT: Charlotte-Mecklenburg police ask residents to NOT call 911 to report power outages unless they are reporting downed lines or a safety hazard that needs an immediate response. Instead, residents can call Duke Energy at 1-800-POWER-ON or report it online.

Business owners in Gastonia were scrambling after a 100-year-old tree fell on top of their building.

Friday night’s storms pushed strong winds through the area, especially near the Perfect Finish Beauty Salon on Second Avenue.

The tree crushed the corner of the shop, along with two cars nearby, but the owners told Channel 9 they are thankful no one was hurt.

"I feel blessed, because God watched over us," said Valeria Setzer. "I looked over at that tree, and I thought to myself, Lord, the way this wind is blowing, I sure hope that tree don't fall."

Setzer said construction to restore the building is expected to start Monday.

Members of Antioch Baptist Church worked late into the afternoon Saturday cleaning up after Friday’s powerful storm.

“Last night we had a service and the lightning struck the tree and fell on top of the car and did major damage to the car,” said member James Cook.

Fortunately, no one was inside the car, and no one was hurt.

"We're thankful we weren't dismissing, because at that point we would have had people in this area. The power here went out, but was restored quickly,” Cook said.

Thousands of others weren't so fortunate.

Duke Energy customers without power as of 4 p.m. Sunday: