RALEIGH, N.C. (Sept. 6, 2019, 10:30 a.m.) – Hurricane Dorian’s northward movement along the coast is causing widespread outages for many of North Carolina’s coastal and eastern electric cooperatives with more than 88,000 cooperative consumer-members currently without power.

Hard-hit Carteret County continues to experience the greatest impact with 20,000 current cooperative outages. Additionally, Dorian made landfall earlier this morning at Hatteras Island, where approximately 7,000 homes and businesses are without power.

Cooperative restoration crews rolled out as early as 6 a.m. in areas where conditions were safe, mainly in our southeastern most counties. As Hurricane Dorian tracks to the northeast, and conditions improve farther up the coast, the remaining impacted cooperatives will begin their restoration efforts.

Crews from South River EMC based in Dunn take on restoration efforts in Autryville.

Local cooperative crews are receiving restoration support from fellow cooperatives in North Carolina, as well as throughout the nation. Contractors have also joined these co-op crews, and together, these dedicated and determined power restoration personnel will work as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to cooperative members.

Safety:

• Help keep our crews safe. If you see utility crews working on the side of the road, slow down and drive carefully.
• Never wade into or drive through flood water.
• Only use generators and charcoal grills in well-ventilated outdoor areas; a garage does not count as a well-ventilated area.
• Never connect a portable generator directly to a home’s wiring. Instead, use an extension cord to plug lights and appliances into the generator.
• Never touch a downed power line, and remember that sometimes debris can cover fallen lines, making them difficult to spot.

Real-time statewide outage numbers and locations are available online. Co-op members should also report outages to their electric cooperative.

North Carolina’s 26 electric cooperatives collectively serve approximately 2.5 million people in 93 of the state’s 100 counties. For more information, visit ncelectriccooperatives.com.    

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