Strong winds cause power outages, damage SparkCon festival grounds

"Early this morning, high winds caused significant damage throughout Raleigh and tossed all SPARKcon’s tents, supplies, and gear down the street," event organizers posted to Facebook on Sunday. "So now, for your and our safety, we are calling a truce with Mother Nature and canceling day four of SPARKcon XIII."

Dreamville, SparkCon, BugFest postponed amid Hurricane Florence threat

"Mother Nature might hate us," organizers joked in a press release, referencing Hurricane Florence, which forced the festival to be rescheduled from its original date in September.

WRAL meteorologist Kat Campbell said winds gusted as fast as 40 mph overnight.

An estimated 147 customers were without power in Wake County and hundreds more in Harnett and Halifax counties, according to Duke Energy.

Winds Speeds and Wind Gusts

Power had been restored to customers Sunday morning as crews began cleaning up Fayetteville Street, where the festival was supposed to conclude in its fourth day.

"We are really proud of SPARKcon 2018," said Brandon Cordrey, the director of Visual Art Exchange, which organizes the festival.

"The event was filled with a ton of positive moments, even if the event did not have the finale we wanted. While the experience of the festival’s infrastructure blowing away was definitely traumatic as organizers, we are really proud of our staff and security’s quick response which limited the resulting damage. No one was injured, no irreversible damage occurred, and the spark is not extinguished."

Gusty winds as fast as 35 mph were felt throughout the day on Sunday, but WRAL meteorologist Mike Moss said the winds will decrease by the afternoon, leaving behind a cold night. "We'll get even colder tonight as the wind gusts diminish," said Moss. "When winds are light, humidity is low, and we're likely to get some frost."

Frost advisory issued for much of the viewing area starting tonight

A frost advisory goes into effect for much of the viewing area starting at midnight and will expire 9 a.m. Monday.