Storm leaves thousands without power in region, causes extreme flooding in Union County
Impacts from severe storms continued to disrupt the Charlotte area Friday, with Union County in a flooding-related state of emergency and thousands of Duke Energy customers still without power.
Duke Energy urged “extreme caution” on and around rivers, lakes and streams along the entire Catawba-Wateree River basin.
With more rain forecast over the next week, lake levels in the Catawba-Wateree reservoirs could rise, creating navigational hazards, Duke Energy officials said Friday afternoon.
By around noon, 19,300 people in Mecklenburg County were without electricity, falling to 10,000 at 5 p.m. And emergency officials urged residents to watch out for more trees falling.
“Just because the rain has moved out of our area, doesn’t mean we’re out of the clear,” Concord Emergency Management officials tweeted Friday morning.
A wind advisory was in effect until 6 p.m. for the entire Charlotte region. Gusts could reach 45 mph, according to the National Weather Service. ”Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result,” NWS meteorologists said in the advisory.
Weather officials confirmed a tornado with maximum sustained winds of 95 mph touched down west of Pineville in southern Mecklenburg County on Thursday. The EF-1 tornado — the second weakest type — traveled nearly 17 miles on “an intermittent path,” officials said. From south Charlotte, it continued east into Matthews and Union County, according to NWS meteorologist Trisha Palmer.
Less hazardous weather is expected over the weekend and the forecast includes a chance of snow in some parts of Mecklenburg County.
Union County emergency declaration
On Thursday, more than 70 Union County roads experienced flooding, prompting the emergency declaration.
The declaration let the sheriff’s office close roads and issue citations to drivers who ignore emergency barricades, county spokeswoman Liz Cooper said. The county’s administrative team also is allowed to put more money into emergency response efforts.
The county also had four sanitary sewer overflows as a result of the storms. None were of a magnitude “to cause immediate danger to human health or the environment,” Brookes Versaggi, Union County community relations manager, said in an email Friday.
All pipes, pumps and equipment were working before the overflow, she said.
Union County Emergency Management has set up a temporary hotline to answer non-emergency questions from residents regarding Thursday’s storm, 704-292-2550. The county’s emergency operations center remains open for updates on the storm’s impacts.
A list of roads impacted is being updated in real-time on the Union County website, unioncountync.gov.
Duke power outage information
Duke Energy customers can check its online outage map for updates on neighborhoods without power and when electricity is expected to be restored.
Thursday’s storms led to the deaths of two drivers, in York County, S.C., and in Gaston County, spawned a tornado in Kannapolis, downed trees and power lines. At its peak, up to 23,000 Duke Energy customers in Mecklenburg County without power.
National Weather Service teams Friday were surveying damage in the Charlotte area on Friday.
This story was originally published February 7, 2020 at 10:57 AM.