Power outages still affecting thousands in Charlotte area Sunday after Ian storm
Thousands of people in the Charlotte area were still without power early Sunday after Ian’s strong winds and heavy rain battered the Carolinas throughout the weekend, according to Duke Energy.
At 11 a.m., scattered outages left fewer than 100 customers in Charlotte without power, including nearly 30 along Interstate 77 near Beatties Ford Road, around 20 near Windsor Park and 12 near the Cotswold neighborhood, the company’s outage map showed. Power is expected to be restored to those areas Sunday afternoon.
More than 1,000 customers did not have power in Rowan County and 965 in Catawba County, according to the map. Nearly 250 customers near South Gastonia were also without power, the map showed. Those were the only other counties in the Charlotte area with substantial outages.
In South Carolina, more than 170 near Lancaster still did not have electricity, the map showed. Power is expected to be restored there by 2 p.m.
In a statement on its outage map Sunday morning, Duke Energy said crews were continuing to restore power and customers could have power back even before the map’s estimated restoration time.
Duke Energy said more than 850,000 customers in the Carolinas lost power during the storm and by Saturday morning, crews restored power for more than 400,000 in North Carolina and 76,000 in South Carolina.
By Sunday afternoon, the company said fewer than 25,000 customers, nearly all in North Carolina, remained without power. The company said most remaining outages will be restored by midnight.
Duke Energy blamed the storm’s high winds and heavy rain for “widespread outages across the Carolinas.” Ian felled trees, power lines and poles across the state, the company said.
Hurricane Ian made landfall just after 2 p.m. Friday, near Georgetown, South Carolina, with 85-mph winds, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm quickly downgraded to a post-tropical storm as it moved inland.
The National Weather Service issued a tropical storm warning and a flood watch for Mecklenburg and surrounding counties until Saturday morning. A flood advisory was also in effect until at least 9 p.m. Friday. All have been lifted, according to the NWS.
Delays, cancellations at CLT airport
Hundreds of flights were canceled Friday and Saturday between Charlotte Douglas International Airport and airports in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, according to FlightAware.com, a flight-tracking site.
The cancellations continued into Sunday.
By 2 p.m. Sunday, 20 flights were canceled and 66 delayed at the airport, according to FlightAware. Most of the cancellations involved flights between Charlotte and airports in Florida, the tracking site showed.
Several airlines, including American, Delta, Southwest and United, are letting passengers rebook without change fees if their flights have been affected by Hurricane Ian.
This story was originally published October 2, 2022 at 11:51 AM.
