Power restored to thousands in Central NC after significant damage from Tropical Storm Debby
NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) -- Thousands across central NC were without power Friday morning after Debby made its way through the state.
According to Duke Energy, more than 500,000 customers were affected overall by the storm across the Carolinas, and about 18,000 customers were impacted Friday morning.
Jeff Brooks with Duke Energy said most of the Triangle outages were in Chatham and rural Orange County.
Power crews worked to restore power throughout the day across the Triangle. Some roads remained closed on Friday night due to significant damage from Thursday's storm.
Chapel Hill resident Meera Gowda moved to Round Hill Road with her mother from New York in 2020. She said she was home with her mom when a tree in her front yard came down.
"It's just something you have to deal with but you're okay. Yeah everyone is safe," Gowda said. "We saw the huge flash and then we made our way to the basement...no one else was home."
Gowda said they heard a big crack sound that sounded like lightning.
"It's scary," she said. "The two beautiful trees, very healthy but they broke off in different directions, apologized to all our neighbors because we were the cause of the power outage. It hasn't sustained great damage so we've been lucky."
Gov. Cooper and other state leaders held a news conference Friday morning to talk about the state's storm recovery plan. Debby, which entered North Carolina as a tropical storm, weakened into a tropical depression and is continuing in its path toward the north.
Watch Gov. Cooper's full conference on NC's Debby recovery plan
