Duke Energy and Charlotte Area Residents Prepare For Ice Storm

CHARLOTTE, NC – Power crews are standing by, lined up at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in anticipation of an impending ice storm.

“We’ve brought in additional workers from our Midwest and Florida service areas as well as other utilities who offered to help,” said Meghan Miles, a Duke Energy Spokesperson.

She says they have a total of 5400 workers ready to go.

Duke Energy anticipates roughly one million outages impacting customers in the Carolinas.

“Up to a quarter inch of ice and grater. That’s when we start to see trees come down, tree limbs in power lines,” said Miles.

She says when thick ice hits it can disrupt the grid for hours if not days.

“We sometimes will have to wait for obstacles that are in the way, such as poles and trees to be removed so we can access areas where repairs are needed,” said Miles.

The impending ice storm stirring memories of 2002 when an inch of freezing rain blanketed North Carolina. Millions of people were left in the dark for days.

Miles says to avoid any disasters,  being prepared is key.

“They should have their emergency kits ready with non perishable foods, water, their cell phones charged, medicines, and really have anything they may need, ready in case they do experience an outage that could last for multiple days,” explained Miles.

“By the time it snows or gets a ton of ice, they are gone. So you want to get those first,” said Andrew Wilkerson of Blackhawk Hardware.

He says shoppers have taken that advice and are loading up on the essentials.

“We’ve definitely seen an uptick of people wanting ice melt, sleds, scrappers, batteries. All the basic accessories,” said Wilkerson.