Duke Energy, emergency crews prepare for impacts of Hurricane Helene: 'Our crews are ready'
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- As Hurricane Helene closes in, North Carolina is bracing for what Gov. Roy Cooper called Thursday an "unusually dangerous storm," with heavy rainfall, gusty winds and isolated severe storms expected across the Triangle.
"We've been managing water across our system to create additional space for the rainfall we anticipate," Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks said. "Then, of course, with that saturated ground, when you have wind gusts that come through, that can bring down trees, that can affect power lines."
Brooks said they're getting ready for Helene's arrival in the Carolinas after making "a lot of improvements" during the past few years that include strengthening the grid and making it more resistant to outages from severe weather.
"We've also been improving our resiliency using self-healing technologies that can automatically identify a power outage and reroute power to help restore service faster, and that's a big tool," Brooks said. "During major storms, about half the benefits we generate from that technology come during major storms. So, it's a great asset for our crews in the field to help restore power and limit the number of customers affected by an outage."
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Duke Energy also announced it secured more crews and has more than 10,000 resources ready to assist with restoration.
"Our crews are ready to respond where we see the outages and if we need to reposition those crews to better assist hard-hit areas, we can do that very quickly as the storm passes," Brooks said.
Local emergency response teams such as Durham County EMS also said they're prepared for Helene's impacts.
"Significant rain over a short period of time will give us flash flooding, things of that nature," Durham County EMS interim chief paramedic Gordon Smith said. "We can have downed trees with the wind, especially with the soggy soil, with the conditions over the last few days. So those are the main things that we'll be looking for."
Smith said as they anticipate the severe weather threat to increase, he urged people to be prepared as well.
"We would prefer everybody stay indoors and safe," Smith said. "But if you absolutely must leave the home ... do so with caution. And again, do not travel through any standing water."
Crews at the Durham Fire Department gathered in the Southpoint parking lot ahead of the storm on Thursday. The crew is one of many being deployed to the western branch area as part of the Incident Support Team.
Chapel Hill and Raleigh fire departments have also been deployed to help during the storm.
WATCH | Duke Energy on preparation for power outages from Helene
