Several thousand still without power after strong storms pummel Charlotte area
Duke Energy reported 21,600 Mecklenburg County customers lost power as severe storms pounded parts of the Charlotte area early Thursday, but most people had their power back by mid-morning.
Power was out in Ballantyne and other areas of south Charlotte, residents reported to the Observer.
By 8 a.m., power had been restored to all but about 1,700 Mecklenburg residents. Power to all homes was expected to be restored by 2 p.m., according to the Duke Energy online outage map.
About 1,800 Duke Energy customers in Union County also remained without power Thursday morning. Power in that county was expected to be back by 1:15 p.m.
At 12:30 a.m., a “strong” thunderstorm was moving from Rock Hill, S.C., into Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Union counties, a National Weather Service storm tracking map on Twitter showed.
The warning remained until at least 2 a.m. for Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Rowan counties.
“Seek shelter indoors,” the NWS office in Greer, S.C., tweeted.
A flash flood warning remains in effect until 4:45 a.m. for Charlotte, Matthews and Rock Hill.
Showers moved into Charlotte around 8 p.m., NWS forecasters said. Charlotte had a 100% chance of precipitation , according to the latest NWS forecast at 5 p.m.
The greatest threat for severe weather in the Charlotte area was forecast for between 11 p.m. Wednesday and 2 a.m. Thursday or midnight to 3 a.m., NWS meteorologist Andrew Kimball told The Charlotte Observer Wednesday afternoon.
The worst of the weather could strike parts of Georgia and western Upstate South Carolina earlier in the evening, he said.
The storms could bring damaging wind and hail, “with a tornado or two also possible,” according to the NWS tweet.
Blame an ”organized squall line” that’s expected to move slowly into the Carolinas from the west along with and ahead of a cold front. Strong thunderstorms embed themselves in such lines, NWS meteorologists said.
The Charlotte area has contended with bouts of intense weather all month.
NWS meteorologists warned the immediate Charlotte area of large hail and possible tornadoes last Thursday and Saturday nights, and on Easter Sunday night.
On Saturday night, the NWS office in Greer, S.C., issued several dozen alerts for strong thunderstorms, large hail and possible tornadoes for Mecklenburg and surrounding counties, and upstate S.C.
A field team from the office confirmed only one tornado from Saturday’s storms, however: An EF-2 tornado with maximum 115-mph winds that traveled at least 5 miles before dissolving in Greenville County, S.C. The twister caused no damage or injuries, according to the office.
An EF-2 is the third most intense type of tornado out of six on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration uses to rate potential damage from tornadoes.
The storms have caused thousands to lose power in Mecklenburg and surrounding counties.
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 10:57 AM.