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Weather damage leaves thousands without power in NC

The wind and ice on Sunday are causing power outages across North Carolina.

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FUQUAY-VARINA, N.C. — The wind and ice on Sunday are causing power outages across North Carolina.

Wintry weather made its mark in Wake County.

Veronica Brown lives in Wake County

"I’m an optimist so I was like 'yeah, we’ll maybe get some rain and maybe some snow but nothing bad is going to come of it,'" said Brown.

Slick road conditions caused a vehicle to overturn in the town of Wake Forest.

Ice buildup on trees and branches fell on power lines in the town of Holly Springs and on East Garner Road in Wake County.

Leaving Brown and thousands in the dark for hours.

"I have a one-and-half-year-old and I did not want her to be cold overnight," said Brown. "So we planned to go to a hotel and stay there for the night."

In Fuquay-Varina, damage to power lines and electrical equipment has left many homes without power.

A video shared with WRAL News showed a tree limb snapping, falling onto a power line, and then -- with all of that power and electricity going through it -- bursting into flames.

Just feet away from Pastor Jason Stone’s church.

"I initially came out here because I thought I heard a transformer blow," said Stone.

Incidents like that are one – where ice weighs down branches and sends them onto sagging power lines – are the reason for high levels of power outages during freezing rain.

The utility crew tasked with cleaning up branches and lines and restoring power must also deal with cold, wet weather.

A resident of Wagstaff Road in Fuquay-Varina told WRAL News he had been without power for three hours.

He said he's hoping the power is back on soon but understands the amount of work utility crews have on their plate.

“Give them time because of COVID, you know? There are a lot of people out," he said. "We're understanding. Hopefully soon, maybe a couple more hours."

Across the Sand Hills, thousands of people are in the dark tonight.

Extensive icing in Moore County knocked down trees across the region, causing some of the worst damage in central North Carolina, and leaving a major mess.

The damage is inescapable.

Massive trees blocked roads, snapped power poles and lines, and left damage that's going to take days to clean up.

In Southern Pines Sunday, the town's namesake trees came crashing down. Every limb and branch coated with a quarter inch of ice.

Edward Paige drove out to check on his brother, one of thousands stuck without power.

The Southern Pines resident said he hasn't seen a storm this bad in decades.

"It's pretty bad. Halfway disaster," said Paige.

Crews from Southern Pines and Duke Energy both rolled into town, but the damage is so extensive, the best they could do in many cases was triage - blocking off roads filled with branches, and draped with downed lines.

In a release Sunday afternoon, the town warned residents to be prepared for a multi-day outage.

Crews across central North Carolina continue to work to address power outages Sunday.

Jeff Brooks with Duke Energy told WRAL News more than 3,000 locations around the state have to be visited and repaired. It could take as long as 4 hours to address this damage.

Duke Energy had over 11,000 line workers, some coming from multiple states, working on repairs.

It could be a multi-day restoration in the hardest hit areas of the state.

Brooks said sometimes the repair can involve replacing the lines themselves or even replacing entire utility poles.

"The extreme cold is hard," Brooks said. "Wind is a real challenge for us because we can't raise our buckets when the wind is over 35 miles per hour."

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