Update at 11:30 am: While most Piedmont Electric customers who lost power had their power restored by 11:30 a.m., more than 2,600 customers on Smith Level Road are still experiencing power outages. Piedmont Electric estimates their power will be restored by 2 p.m.
Meanwhile, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools said that due to ongoing cuts, Carrboro High School students are being given an unexpected half-day break. The school is offering take-out meals for lunch and school bus transportation is available for all students who would normally ride home by bus. CHCCS said at 11:30 a.m. that other dismissal procedures were taking place as normal
Below is the original story published Friday morning.
More than 7,000 Piedmont Electric Cooperative customers in Orange County lost power Friday, with the business saying it could be restored later in the morning.
The locally run utility reported widespread outages for thousands of customers just before 7:30 a.m., earlier sharing an update on Facebook saying transmission line problems were affecting several of its substations and causing power outages. As of 7:45 a.m., crews were investigating and “working safely and efficiently to restore power as quickly as possible.”
Most of the outages occurred in southern Orange County west and southwest of Carrboro. More than 2,000 customers were without power on North Carolina Highway 54 and Jones Ferry Road, with another 2,600 in and around Smith Level Road.
Similarly, about 2,400 customers north of Chapel Hill also experienced power outages around the same time – the outage map shows several buildings without power along New Hope Church Road and Mount Sinai.
The Piedmont Electric Cooperative outage map for Friday, May 22 shows several thousand customers without power. (Photo via Piedmont Electric Cooperative.)
Due to this cut, many traffic lights in these areas were closed. North Carolina’s law for drivers approaching a flashing or power-out light is to treat it like a four-way stop – stop your vehicle and look in all directions before proceeding through the intersection.
As of 8:30 a.m., Piedmont Electric Cooperative estimated power would be restored to all customers affected by the problem around 10:30 a.m.
Additional customers experiencing an outage can report it to Piedmont Electric three ways: calling 800-222-3107, texting “#out” to the same phone number, or logging into SmartHub and selecting “Report a Problem/Inquiry” from the Quick Links section.
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