Duke Energy: Expected outages could take weeks to fix | WilmingtonBiz

Duke Energy: Expected outages could take weeks to fix | WilmingtonBiz: As Hurricane Florence edged closer to the Port City and surrounding areas Wednesday, utility crews were getting ready for widespread service outages.

Duke Energy crews in coastal North Carolina expect extensive damage and power outages that could take weeks to bring back to full restoration, officials said.

As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, Hurricane Florence had weakened to a Category 3, still a major hurricane and officials continued to anticipate potentially life-threatening effects from storm surge and flooding for areas in its path.

More than 6,500 Carolinas-based workers are being joined by 1,400 workers from Duke Energy Midwest and 1,000 from Duke Energy Florida to respond to the storm, Duke Energy officials said in an email.

And with 9,000 additional resources coming from other utilities to help, more than 20,000 people are in place for restoration efforts as soon as it’s safe to do so, officials added.

“Line technicians, service crews and other personnel are available throughout our service area and are ready to respond to outages and emergencies ... Historical data and our company experience shows that complete restoration from a major hurricane can take multiple days to sever