Flooding, downed trees and debris from Tropical Depression Fred caused a peak of more than 20,000 outages to co-op members in western North Carolina on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 17.
Cooperative restoration crews worked quickly and safely overnight in extreme conditions to bring outage totals down to 3,200 members as of 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Remaining outages are concentrated in hard-hit areas primarily served by Haywood EMC and Blue Ridge Energy. Restoration efforts continue, and these co-ops have been joined by support crews from peer cooperatives Rutherford EMC and EnergyUnited.
Co-op members are encouraged to stay vigilant; flood waters and debris can make it difficult to spot downed power lines. Please remember to keep a safe distance and never touch a downed power line.
Real-time outages updates are available on our Outage Map.