Power out? Other ways to get news about Hurricane Florence
If you find yourself without power during Hurricane Florence, you don't have to go completely dark on news, safety updates and information about the storm.
Power outages are expected across much of North Carolina, with isolated outages expected to start as early as Thursday night, and widespread outages along the eastern part of the state on Friday.
Current estimates from Duke Energy put between 1- and 3-million customers without power as a result of the storm. With such a large number of outages, and damage being an unknown, power restoration could take much longer than usual.
"The magnitude of the storm is beyond what we have seen in years," said Howard Fowler, Duke Energy's incident commander. "With the storm expected to linger, power restoration work could take weeks instead of days."
It can be frustrating feeling out of the loop as a serious storm passes over and you have no way to find out where it is and when it will pass – much less when you might have your power restored.
Thankfully, modern technology has made it much easier to get and consume the news. The fact is, you are more than likely reading this on your phone, tablet or a laptop.
Most local television stations now stream their news in their mobile apps. WRAL is no exception; every second of WRAL's coverage of Hurricane Florence can be streamed live in the WRAL News app for iOS, Android and Amazon Fire tablets.
The added benefit of a news app is the push notification functionality. You're preferred local news source will certainly be making it a priority to keeping its viewers safe and informed throughout the storm. By enabling push notifications, you will receive the latest information as it is available.
The Google News app as well as Flipboard are great sources of aggregated information as well. These apps tap user behavior and trends to present the top news from sources all over the world. The Google News app in particular will learn your behavior and send alerts based on what news is important to you.
And in this day and age of cord cutting, most streaming subscription services offer local channels. Services like YouTube TV, Hulu TV, DirecTV Now, Sling TV and Playstation Vue and can viewed on a mobile device and include many of the local channels you watch on your television.
Even if you haven't cut the cord, this may be an opportunity to test out one – or all – of these services.
YouTube TV offers a free 7-day trial, Hulu TV can be trialed for 30 days risk free, DirecTV Now offers a 7-day trial, Sling TV also offers a 7-day trial, and Playstation Vue has a 5-day trial.
Just remember that all of the streaming services listed will auto-renew if you do not cancel before the trial period expires.
NewsON, which offers live streams of newscasts from across the United States, also offers a mobile app and can be accessed via its website. Streams from WTVD (Raleigh–Durham–Fayetteville), WFMY (Greensboro–Winston-Salem–High Point), WXII (Greensboro–Winston-Salem–High Point), WECT (Wilmington), WBTC (Charlotte) and WCNC (Charlotte) are all available in the NewsON app.
In addition to watching local news, the latest news and updates will also be broadcast over the airwaves.
Having a battery-powered radio on hand if power is lost will allow you to continue to pick up local radio stations, including MIX 101.5, which will carry updates from WRAL and the National Weather Service.
If you don't have a battery-powered radio, a number of mobile apps offer live streams of radio stations. TuneIn is the most comprehensive for "tuning in" to radio live streams across the state, while iHeartRadio offers streams of G105, WRDU and KISS FM.
Both TuneIn and iHeartRadio can be accessed on the Web as well as via mobile apps.
Social media will also be a great source of information. Not only will news outlets be active on Facebook and Twitter, your neighbors who are weathering the storm right along side you will be posting updates as well.
Of course with any of these solutions, power in some manner is required, so be sure you have plenty of spare batteries on hand if you are using a battery-powered radio, and that you have portable chargers for you phones and tablets.
Although not quite as easily accessible, especially as we approach zero hour, a hand-crank radio will allow you to tune in to local radio stations without the need of a power outlet or batteries.
Duke Energy said it has mobilized 20,000 workers from across the United States to help restore power.
"Despite our workforce, customers should continue to make plans for their homes and facilities," Fowler said. "It's important for people to know this is no ordinary storm and customers could be without power for a very long time – not days, but weeks."
You can find contact information for your power provider, including how to report an outage, here.
