Duke Energy to restore power in NC before Thursday, FBI looking for vandals UPDATE
(UPDATE: 9:30 p.m.) (WTVD) — Duke Energy made good on its goal to fully restore power in Moore County by Wednesday night.
By 5:30 p.m., virtually all power had been restored.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE BELOW:
MOORE COUNTY, NC (CBS) — Duke Energy says it expects to be able to restore power by Wednesday night to a North Carolina county where electric substations were attacked by gunfire.
Jeff Brooks is Duke Energy’s spokesman.
Brooks says the company expects to have power back Wednesday just before midnight in Moore County.
The company had previously estimated it would be restored Thursday morning.
About 35,000 Duke energy customers are still without power, down from more than 45,000 at the height of the outage.
Authorities have said the outages began shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday night after one or more people drove up to two substations, breached the gates and opened fire on them.
“We’ve made good progress over the last few days repairing the damage from that attack on our two substations. There was a lot of equipment damage. There was some that was inoperable, had to be completely replaced,” Brooks said.
The FBI’s Charlotte division is seeking information about the person or persons who they said vandalized two Moore County electrical substations, causing a days-long power outage.
On Saturday night, FBI agents said unknown suspects fired multiple shots at two Duke Energy Substations in Moore County, which were located about 10 miles apart in West End and Carthage.
They said the damage caused a massive power outage, with about 45,000 customers without power.
That’s compared to the county’s 47,000 Duke Energy customers.
Officials said the repair process would take days.
A state of emergency was issued and remains in effect for the county.
The county continues to operate a shelter at the Moore County Sports Complex — Recreation Center at 155 Hillcrest Park Lane in Carthage.
Duke Energy said Wednesday that the majority of power could be restored by midnight in Moore County.
In a message on its website, the company said said Wednesday morning that all damaged equipment at the Moore County substations have either been fully repaired or replaced.
