Thousands in Triangle still without power as temperatures plunge overnight - WRAL News

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Christmas play got disconnected to a bumpy commencement for galore successful the Triangle, wherever outages meant deficiency of vigor for radical staying wrong connected a time wherever an arctic blast of acold aerial blanketed the southeast.

As of Friday night, temperatures had dipped into single-digit upwind chills, with thousands of families inactive without powerfulness – and without heat. Power crews were moving round-the-clock connected Christmas play to effort and reconstruct powerfulness for families.

At the highest of powerfulness outages Friday afternoon, much than 200,000 customers were without powerfulness successful North Carolina arsenic upwind speeds picked up successful excess of 40 miles per hr successful immoderate parts of the state. Wake County saw implicit 25,000 outages, the astir of immoderate region successful the state. Durham County had much than 5,000. In Johnston County, determination were much than 7,000 without power.

As of 11 p.m. Friday night, astir 10,000 were inactive without powerfulness successful the Triangle – including Wake, Durham and Orange County.

Duke Energy inactive had crews moving to reconstruct powerfulness to customers arsenic of Friday night. High winds slowed their enactment during the day.

Part of Millbrook Road adjacent Falls of Neuse was inactive blocked disconnected owed to downed powerfulness lines conscionable earlier midnight, with families successful the country approaching 10 hours of being without electricity. Some were making past infinitesimal plans conscionable to enactment safe.

Instead of enjoying a relaxing vacation weekend, Tashyra Fowler, parent of a 9-month-old baby, said the deficiency of powerfulness made it hard to support her babe lukewarm and fed.

"It's been benignant of stressful," she said.

Late astatine night, Fowler was taking her babe for a thrust successful the car conscionable to enactment warm. They'll beryllium staying with household tonight.

Isaac Fernandez, of Raleigh, lives conscionable feet distant from the histrion that hardly missed his him erstwhile it fell. With nary heat, he's spent the evening huddling astir the fireplace with family.

"Hopping astir the chimney and making immoderate blistery potatoes, that's each we're doing," helium said.

"This is each hands connected deck," said Jeff Brooks with Duke Energy. "We each had vacation plans conscionable similar everybody other but we enactment those speech due to the fact that our archetypal precedence is our customers. Because this is simply a statewide event, we couldn't displacement employees to immoderate 1 location, truthful what we're doing is looking astatine the areas that are hardest hit, and past we'll statesman shifting resources to assistance successful those areas."

Downed trees and powerfulness lines cancel immoderate vacation events

One of the much melodramatic signs of harm came successful Rocky Mount. A bid of inferior poles were knocked implicit connected Benvenue Road, shutting down the roadway and prompting constabulary and powerfulness crews to repair to the damage.

In the Triangle, immoderate intersections were without functioning stoplights. Power was knocked retired astatine Highway 54 and Farrington Road, creating a unsafe concern astatine a engaged intersection betwixt Durham and Chapel Hill.

Many viewers submitted photos of fallen trees oregon toppled Christmas decorations. Trees were much prone to autumn aft a rainy Thursday that made the ungraded saturated.

WRAL Nights of Lights, the drive-through vacation lights acquisition astatine Raleigh's Dorothea Dix Park, was canceled connected Friday night, Dec. 23, owed to upwind harm on the way and the forecast for precocious winds and bitter cold. The Chinese Lantern Festival successful Cary was besides closed.

Temperatures are expected to dip into the teens Friday night, and upwind chills could driblet 'feels like' temperatures down into the azygous digits connected Saturday morning.