Severe Storms Leave Thousands in Wake County Without Power

RALEIGH, North Carolina — Severe thunderstorms swept through Wake County on Saturday, leaving thousands without power. Duke Energy reported that over 9,000 customers experienced outages due to the storm.

The Raleigh Police Department noted that traffic lights were down across the city, creating hazardous conditions for drivers. Approximately 6,000 outages occurred near Poole Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where a major power line was damaged.

Several fast food restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores faced power loss for a few hours. “When the trees began to fall, you could hear the transformer sound,” said Renee Woodberry, a resident of Wake County. “We have one of the power lines in the back of our yard, so it started to spark. It started to light up and we were nervous it was going to catch on fire because of how many trees it was surrounded by, so it was just a lot.”

Duke Energy crews were on the scene and estimated that power would be restored by 11:45 p.m. on Saturday. Meanwhile, Raleigh police advised residents to exercise caution when driving through intersections that might be without power.

Parts of Smithfield were also affected by the outage. Town leaders posted on Facebook that crews were working diligently to restore the power supply, explaining that the Duke Energy feed to their substation was down.