UPDATE: In the wake of a severe storm, many residents in Chapel Hill and Durham remained without power on Wednesday morning, and local emergency services and governments continued to provide closure information and safety tips.
Durham County, which energy provider Duke Energy said was one of the hardest-hit areas in North Carolina from high winds, reported thousands of customers still without service — and many with no clear time of restoration. Duke Energy said in a message sent to customers that it hopes to provide residents with initial restoration estimations in the early afternoon, while an employee of the company said around 1,000 line and tree workers have been diverted to Durham to provide support to the local crews working on repairing power lines and clearing tree debris.
A screenshot of Duke Energy’s outage map over Durham at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, August 16. (Photo via Duke Energy)
Durham Police said Wednesday that due to power outages and fallen trees, several roads in the area are closed for road safety. While many were reopened through the morning, as of 11 a.m. the list includes:
- 1000 block of Hyde Park Avenue
- North Driver Street and Liberty Street
- Railroad Street and Liberty Street
- Angier Avenue and Wrenn Road
- 1100 block of North Miami Boulevard
- North Elizabeth Street and Liberty Street
- 1500 block of Robinhood Road
- Morehead Avenue between Chapel Hill Road and Anderson Street
- Fayetteville Road and Juliette Drive
- 3000 block of Weaver Street
- Hillandale Road at Interstate 85
- Farrington Road between Ridgefield Drive and Dunbrook Drive
- Lincoln Street at Linwood Avenue
Even more roads are still without working traffic signals as well, according to the police department. The Durham Police Department provided a list of all affected areas, which can be found here for reference.
Emergency officials urged road users to treat all intersections without power as four-way stops, with each driver stopping at the light and advancing based on who arrived first.
To help residents who continue to experience power outages, the grocery store chain Harris Teeter announced it will be giving away ten-pound bags of ice at three of its Durham locations. The stores on Hillsborough Road, North Roxboro Road, and North Pointe Drive will each begin distributing bags at 12 p.m. on Wednesday — with a two bag limit per household until supplies last.
Meanwhile, Chapel Hill saw its downtown power restored on Tuesday night and some of its other neighborhoods, but some areas beyond the town limits still experienced outages on Wednesday. White Cross and the Falconbridge area near the Durham County line each had more than 1,000 customers whose outages were being examined.
The town government alerted residents that while a trio of residential roads remained closed on Wednesday, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Homestead Road and Estes Drive reopened around 9 a.m. after being closed overnight and in the earlier morning hours. Additionally, the town’s weekly food distribution to community members at the Eubanks Park and Ride Lot was cancelled due to “a food supply disruption following yesterday’s storm.”
Carrboro also worked on Tuesday and Wednesday to clean up several fallen trees in their downtown and along trails.
Storms that rolled through late afternoon Tuesday caused several trees to fall including one that struck a truss bridge that crosses Bolin Creek. The bridge is closed. Another tree is down (entangled in wires) at Main and Jones Ferry.
Updates provided as available #CarrboroSafe pic.twitter.com/lmklmsWXXP
— Carrboro, NC (@CarrboroGov) August 16, 2023
Elsewhere in Orange County, Blackwood Farm Park was closed on Wednesday due to cleaning up storm debris, according to the county government.
Blackwood Farm Park is closed temporarily due to damage suffered from yesterday's storm. pic.twitter.com/277BNhXWDE
— Orange County NC Gov (@OCNCGOV) August 16, 2023
Below is the original story, published in the evening of Tuesday, August 15.
As severe weather rolled through North Carolina on Tuesday afternoon, it knocked out power for thousands of Duke Energy customers — including in Orange and Durham counties.
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the community in the early afternoon, with the storm arriving to much of Orange County around 4 p.m. With very high winds, thunder and lightning, and strong rain, residents saw debris and trees blow into different areas.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning continues for Durham NC, Chapel Hill NC and Carrboro NC until 4:30 PM EDT. This storm will contain wind gusts to 70 MPH! pic.twitter.com/ReTSDo9Urd
— NWS Raleigh (@NWSRaleigh) August 15, 2023
As of 4:30 p.m., Duke Energy had received outage reports for several Chapel Hill neighborhoods, including downtown Chapel Hill, Southern Village, along North Carolina 54, and in White Cross. Near the county line with Durham, customers in the Falconbridge neighborhoods, along Mt. Sinai Road, and in the 15-501 corridor also reported thousands of outages. The utility company estimated around 60,000 customers suffering outages in Durham after the storm blew through the city and surrounding areas.
Few of the outages had estimated times of restoration, as Duke Energy response crews evaluated the plethora of outages across the state caused by the storm.
The full outage map for Duke Energy across North Carolina can be found here.
Duke Energy customers who lost power can report their outage by texting OUT to 57801, calling 800-769-3766, or sending a message on their website or app. If a power line has fallen or has debris hanging in it, the utility company urges residents to never touch the line or anything in contact with it, and instead calling emergency services and keeping others away until repair crews arrive.
In Chapel Hill, the town government alerted community members to a downed power line blocking Martin Luther King Boulevard between Homestead Road and Estes Drive during the 4 p.m. hour. Travelers using the road were encouraged to detour by using Homestead Road or Estes Drive to avoid using the blocked portion. Additionally, Chapel Hill said Shady Lawn Road at Eastwood Drive and North Street at Boundary Street were each closed due to downed trees.
If motorists or bicyclists come across a traffic signal that is not working, Chapel Hill Police encourage all road users to treat the intersection as a four-way stop, meaning each vehicle stops at the light and then proceeds based on the order they arrived.
#CHtraffic Alert: Downed power lines are blocking Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. between Homestead Road and Estes Drive. Drivers must use Homestead Road or Estes Drive as a detour. @DukeEnergy has been notified.
— Town of Chapel Hill | A Place for Everyone (@chapelhillgov) August 15, 2023
Between the power outages and severe weather, traffic along major roads in Orange and Durham counties also saw an uptick in crashes and delays. Along Interstate 40 West near 751, 32 vehicles crashed during the 5 p.m. hour, according to the Durham Police Department. The westbound side of I-40 in the area was closed until the crash can be cleared, with police urging all travelers to detour the area.
While the more severe storms are expected to have finished by the early evening, Orange, Durham and Chatham counties will remain under a severe thunderstorm watch through 9 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Photo via Duke Energy.
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