‘This is a great challenge’: Tens of thousands without power after shootings at NC substations

MOORE COUNTY, N.C. (WBTV/AP) – Duke Energy crews saw “clear signs of intentional impact” when they were called to two power substations in Moore County that authorities said were damaged by gunfire.

That’s according to Jeff Brooks, a Duke Energy spokesperson. Crews continued to work to restore power to the roughly 33,000 customers still in the dark as of Monday morning.

The peak for outages was between 40,000 to 45,000 customers.

“This is just about every customer we have in the county, so this has been a very disruptive event,” Brooks said.

In response to ongoing outages, which began just after 7 p.m. Saturday across Moore County, officials announced a state of emergency that included a curfew from 9 p.m. Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday. Also, county schools were closed Monday.

Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said at a Sunday news conference that authorities have not determined a motivation. He said someone pulled up and “opened fire on the substation, the same thing with the other one.” The sheriff said that it appeared gates were breached at both sites.

According to Brooks, there was physical damage at the substations in Moore County. He said some of it can possibly be repaired, while other components will have to be replaced.

Brooks said multiple repair paths are being implemented to try and address the outages, noting that there are repair options that can bring power back to some customers in the interim, with about 7,000 customers having power restored Sunday evening.

“Unfortunately, the majority of customers are served by equipment that has to be fully replaced and reinstalled and built,” Brooks said, adding it could be Thursday before all power is restored.

Related: Outages could last days after shootings at substations

With cold temperatures Sunday night, officials opened a shelter at a sports complex in Carthage.

The county of approximately 100,000 people lies about an hour’s drive southwest of Raleigh and is known for golf resorts in Pinehurst and other communities.

Brooks said Duke Energy’s hearts go out to the people of Moore County who have been impacted by the outages.

“This is not just inconvenient, this is a great challenge for this community,” he said.

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