WATAUGA COUNTY, N.C. — Thousands of homes in the North Carolina mountains woke up to another morning without power after an ice storm caused wide spread outages this week.
Blue Ridge Energy said it has employees working around the clock trying to repair lines damaged by the storm.
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Some of the line technicians were working 14-16 hours.
Outages at 1 p.m. in the Channel 9 coverage area:
- Ashe County: 1,856
- Watauga County: 385
The Watauga and Ashe County school districts also adjusted their schedules Friday due to icy conditions throughout the region:
- Ashe County: Closed Friday
- Watauga County: Two-hour delay Friday
Channel 9′s Jonathan Lowe was in Blowing Rock earlier this week where temperatures hovered around the freezing mark.
Rain cleared out for the area Thursday morning but winds were expected to be blustery as night fell and temperatures dropped into the teens.
The next chance of freezing rain for that area of Watauga County will be Friday night into Saturday morning.
Channel 9′s Dave Faherty spoke with Blue Ridge Energy’s James Sloan midweek about the company’s biggest concerns.
“Just a lot of ice and it’s slick and trees are down, and it’s really foggy out here too,” said Sloan.
As crews worked to restore power, residents expressed gratitude for their efforts.
“You gotta applaud these guys for being out here in this kind of weather. It’s awesome they’re out here,” said Watauga County resident Billy Barker.
“They’re gonna be my heroes when I get my power back on,” added Lori Inman.
Blue Ridge Energy was also getting help from other utility companies and hoped to have power restored by Friday.
VIDEO: Severe weather brings winter storm warnings to mountain counties
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