Over 1.1 million Duke Energy customers remain without power as ‘extensive repairs’ needed across the Carolinas

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CHARLOTTE ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — More than 1.1 million Duke Energy customers were without power Friday night across the Carolinas after the destruction left behind from Helene.

The figure has dropped from more than 1.2 million Friday afternoon, and Duke Energy reports only 57,000 remain in Mecklenburg County.

However, outages remain significant in counties just to the west. In Gaston, there were 32,000; in Burke: 20,000; in Caldwell, 21,000; in Catawba, 22,727; and in Cleveland, 33,000.

Around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Boone officials posted they were still without 65% of its power.

“Crews have uncovered catastrophic damage left behind by Helene, which will require extensive repairs,” Duke officials said in a statement. “We greatly appreciate your patience.”

“Customers who you have yet to see an estimated time of restoration, should receive an update by mid-day Saturday, which can be viewed at Duk.us/05.

Hurricane Helene made landfall last night as a Category 4 storm with winds of 140 mph. Friday was a Pinpoint Weather Alert Day as Helene moved further inland.

The worst impacts from the storm were during the early morning hours with flooding rains, high winds, and brief tornadoes across NC. But just as quickly as the storm moved in, Helene cleared out with much quieter weather this weekend.

The worst impacts from Helene were expected Friday morning as the center of the storm moved just west of the Central Carolinas bringing an additional seven to ten inches of rain in the mountains, with widespread flooding.

Along with the flooding rains, widespread wind gusts of up to 55 MPH were possible around Charlotte with higher gusts possible in the mountains. The wind gusts peaked in the mid-morning hours as the heaviest rain moved through.

By the middle of the day the rain, wind, and severe weather cleared out of the region with partly cloudy skies. Over the weekend, we are expecting generally dry weather with just an isolated shower possible during the afternoon.

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