Power restoration efforts ongoing in Carolinas, crews prep for Milton

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Hurricane Helene continues to leave crews working to restore power in the Carolinas. For days, some families have found themselves without it.

“I’ve worked storms for 17 years for this company, and I think this is one of the more personal and emotional storms I’ve seen our crews involved in,” said Jeff Brooks with Duke Energy.

Brooks said about 20,000 line and tree workers from 20 states and even Canada have focused their efforts in some of the hardest hit areas. In a little over a week, Brooks said those crews have helped restore power to about 3 million customers. He said another 60,000 customers still need their help.

“Now we’re getting into those really hard-hit areas that are just going to take a while to rebuild, and in some cases, we don’t have structures to return power to,” said Brooks.

The power company said they placed at least three mobile substations that will provide temporary power to areas where they continue to focus on permanent repairs. Brooks said they are also in the process of activating a mobile command center in the regional part of the state that will help them prioritize impacted areas.

“We’ve got houses that have been shifted off of their foundations, infrastructure that’s just been destroyed, roads that are out — everybody is doing everything that they can to get these communities back on their feet,” said Brooks. “This is almost like building the entire electric grid in certain parts of our state.”

While the effort continues in the western portion of the state, Brooks said their company also is preparing for the impact of Hurricane Milton that’s expected to bring a lengthy power restoration process with extended outages.

“It’s a storm, that even though we’re recovering from Helene here, we have Milton really getting ready to impact our service area in Florida,” said Brooks. “We’re fighting a multi-storm, a multi-front war right now. “

With anticipated heavy rainfall, strong winds, and high storm surges, the company said they’re readying 16,000 resources, from line workers to contractors, to respond to more than one million power outages. Brooks said crews are already in place in a safe area near the impact zone and ready to respond.

“Our forecasters are locking in the final track of the storm; we’re using our system to model damage and figure out where we’ll see the most damage. Obviously, flooding is going to be a big concern,” explained Brooks.

Duke Energy currently operates in six states. Brooks said the size of the company is another strength that is helping them adjust where resources are needed most.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS17.com.