Thousands without power across Carolinas after Thursday's storms

NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA —
By dinnertime on Friday evening, thousands of people in the Charlotte area were still without power.

Duke Energy urged patience from its customers, saying that some may not get their power back on until Sunday.

On Kempsford Drive, Duke Energy utility crews removed branches from a set of power lines behind several homes.

Dark spots were visible on the transformer where Duke Energy officials said branches burned before the fuse blew and the power went out.

Duke officials said Mecklenburg County was one of the hardest-hit counties in this storm, which slammed North Carolina with rain, hail and what they called strong straight-line winds. They say the sheer width of the storm is comparable to a hurricane, although it moved through a lot more quickly.

"It was a ferocious storm," Duke Energy spokesperson Lisa Hoffman said. "At our peak, we saw about 356,000 outages across the system."

Duke Energy brought in extra crews from some of its other service areas and from South Carolina Electric and Gas to try to get power restored to customers as soon as possible.

"My house is 81 degrees," Meg Wagner said. "My kids are going crazy."

"It's just something where we just can't go out and just flip a switch and it comes back on," Keith Meza, Duke Energy distribution line tech, said.

A tree fell across power lines on Robert Bost Road in Midland, forcing Danielle Gaydon, her sister Katie Peck and her two children to suffer in the heat.

"It's just extremely hot and it's hard to deal with," Peck said.

"Our refrigerator's starting to smell," Gaydon said. "[We've] been calling the power company-- so far, nothing."

Eyewitness News called Union Power Cooperative about the tree.

Spokesperson Carrie Stroud said they were aware of it but had to fix outages closer to the substation first.

She said hundreds of customers were still waiting for electricity, something that didn't impress 6-year-old Abigail.

"I can't watch TV at all," she said.

To report outages call Duke Energy at 800-769-3766 and Duke Energy Progress for North and South Carolina at 800-419-6356. These automated messages are the quickest and easiest ways to report outages.

If you are still without power, email us at assignment@wsoc-tv.com.

WSOC