Downed power lines pose no problem for some
As linemen worked long hours Thursday and Friday – and into the weekend – to restore power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses across North Carolina left in the dark after Tropical Storm Michael, some people found ways to survive without electricity or to get it before crews got to them.
More than 300,000 customers were still without power Friday afternoon, but Ben Ceranowski doesn't worry about having lines down in his Cary neighborhood.
"I can run a refrigerator. I can run a freezer. I can charge my iPads and my cellphones," said Cernowski, who has 45 solar panels on his roof to help keep his home powered up.
"I'm a genius," he said with a laugh.
Until the sun goes down, that is.
"As soon as it gets dark, I am like everyone else and totally powerless – literally," he said.
In Raleigh, power lines were down along Sunnybrook Drive, causing problems for local businesses.
Tidy Maids decided to tap into the electricity on the other side of the office park, which still had power, so the firm could get enough juice to run computers.
"Everybody here was looking for power cords and extensions, doing what we could to maintain our business," said Susan Adams, explaining the jerry-rigged cable the firm had stretched across the parking lot.
Back in Cary, Jim Radcliff was resigned to waiting out the outage created when a large tree fell along Chapel Hill Road, bringing down power lines.
"Three of my neighbors have generators," Radcliff said, noting that he doesn't. "[I'm] just camping out inside."
