Power Outages Continue In Charlotte Region

About 190,000 Duke Energy customers remained without power as of 2:40 p.m. About 43,000 were in Mecklenburg County, followed by Gaston, 17,532; Rowan, 12,700; Lincoln, 7,500; York (SC), 6,300; Iredell, 4,200; Union, 600; and Lancaster (SC), 600. Duke spokesman Jason Walls says it's too early to estimate when power will be restored. "Our focus right now is on damage assessment and clean up an public safety concerns like downed power lines," he said. The number of outages peaked at 256,000 at about 4 a.m. The storm closed I-485 nearly Pineville and the inner loop. Both reopened this afternoon. In addition, several CMS schools were without power throughout the day, but all had water service and remained open. "Some of the damage is extensive and its' going to take a while for us to make those repairs," Walls said. He said about 900 workers are being brought from other area to help restore power.