Thousands without power as storms move through Charlotte area

More than 10,000 Duke Energy customers remain without power as of 6 p.m. after a line of strong thunderstorms moved across the Charlotte area on Friday.

The majority of the power outages are across the state line, in York, S.C., and an area north of Lancaster, according to Duke Energy’s outage map.

Trees were reported down across S.C. roads, including U.S. 321 south of York, according to the Herald of Rock Hill.

In northwest Charlotte, about 1,300 customers in the Oakdale neighborhood lost power around 4:15 p.m. Service is expected to be restored by 8:45 p.m.

Firefighters responded a house fire caused by a lightning strike in the 8000 block of Woodcock Lane in northwest Charlotte just before 5 p.m., according to Queen City News. It’s unclear if anyone was home, the TV station reported.

Isolated to scattered thunderstorms were expected Friday afternoon, according to a National Weather Service alert posted at 5:26 a.m. Cloud-to-ground lightning and locally heavy rainfall are the primary threats. A couple of the storms could produce damaging wind gusts in excess of 60 mph, the NWS said.

The scattered showers and storms are expected to continue Friday evening, mainly before 9 p.m. , according to the NWS forecast for Charlotte. The low should drop to around 64.

The weekend looks mostly sunny, with highs in the mid-80s.

The next chance of rain could come Wednesday night.

This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 5:03 PM.