CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As Hurricane Matthew approaches the Carolinas, officials are telling residents there will be power outages. The storm, which has restrengthened to Category 4, with winds reaching around 140 miles per hour, continues to track toward the Carolinas and is expected to arrive Saturday.
Thousands of Duke Energy personnel are being mobilized and are ready to respond.
“We’ve stocked our trucks and warehouses, completed our readiness plans based on Matthew’s projected path, and coordinated with local, state and national emergency personnel to ensure we have the most optimized response,” said Bobby Simpson, Duke Energy’s Carolinas storm director. “You can’t beat the forces of nature, but we will do everything we can to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.”
As part of the company’s preparation efforts, teams completed aerial inspections of the main transmission lines in the coastal North Carolina area to verify that trees were safely cleared away. The company has also identified potential flood zones and trained workers on how to access alternate travel routes to reach damaged areas.
“We’ve finalized resource plans, and more than 2,300 line workers are prepared to descend on the communities where damage and outages occur,” said a press release.