12:15 UPDATE: Piedmont Electric Cooperative’s outage map reported that the remaining customers who experienced an outage had restored service. On its Facebook page, the business cited a damaged transformer at its Carrboro substation as causing complications to repairs, which are ongoing.
11:30 a.m. UPDATE: While most Piedmont Electric customers who lost power saw theirs restored by 11:30 a.m., more than 2,600 customers along Smith Level Road are still experiencing an outage. Piedmont Electric estimates their power will be restored by 2 p.m.
Meanwhile, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools said due to the ongoing outage, Carrboro High School students are being dismissed for an unexpected half-day. The school is offering grab-and-go meals for lunch and school bus transportation is available for all students who typically ride the bus home. CHCCS said other dismissal procedures are taking place normally, just at 11:30 a.m.
Below is the original story published Friday morning.
More than 7,000 Piedmont Electric Cooperative customers in Orange County lost power Friday, with the business saying it could be restored later in the morning.
The locally-run utility reported widespread outages for thousands of customers beginning shortly before 7:30 a.m., before sharing an update on Facebook saying a transmission line issue is impacting several of its substations and causing power to go down. As of 7:45 a.m., crews were investigating and “working safely and efficiently to restore power as quickly as possible.”
The bulk of the outages were in southern Orange County to the west and southwest of Carrboro. More than 2,000 customers were without power along North Carolina Highway 54 and Jones Ferry Road, with another 2,600 down along Smith Level Road and its surrounding neighborhoods.
Similarly, roughly 2,400 customers just north of Chapel Hill also experienced an outage around the same time — with the outage map showing swaths of buildings along New Hope Church Road and Mt. Sinai without power.
The Piedmont Electric Cooperative outage map for Friday, May 22, showing several thousand customers without power. (Photo via Piedmont Electric Cooperative.)
The outage caused several traffic lights in these areas to go out. North Carolina laws for drivers approaching a flashing or out-of-power light is to treat it like a four-way stop — halting your vehicle and looking in all directions before proceeding through the intersection.
As of 8:30 a.m., Piedmont Electric Cooperative estimated power to all the customers affected by the issue would be restored around 10:30 a.m.
Additional customers experiencing an outage can report it to Piedmont Electric in three ways: calling 800-222-3107, texting “#out” to the same phone number, or logging into SmartHub and selecting “Report an issue/inquiry” from the Quick Links section.
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