RALEIGH (AP) -- Thousands of people are without power as an early spring storm made the transition from soaking rains to damaging winds.
More than 170,000 Duke Energy customers went without power today. Nearly 30,000 outages were reported in Henderson County in southwest North Carolina, while about 20,000 outages were reported in Mecklenburg County and another 20,000 in the Triangle.
Progress Energy says about 3,400 Progress Energy workers in Wake County were without power after winds uprooted trees that fell on power lines.
To the west, up to four inches of snow had fallen in the mountains by Monday morning, forcing school closings in Alleghany, Ashe, McDowell and Watauga counties. Schools in Wilkes County were opening two hours late because of snow.
High wind warnings are in effect in the western Piedmont and mountains through Tuesday, while wind advisories were posted for the eastern Piedmont, sandhills and coastal plains through tonight.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
