Thousands still without electricity as Duke Energy works to restore

At the Buncombe County press briefing on the morning of Oct. 8, County Manager Avril Pinder reviewed progress in electricity restoration from Duke Energy, the biggest electricity provider in the state of North Carolina.

As of 9 am on Oct. 8, more than 59,000 Duke Energy customers in Buncombe County were still without power, a significant decrease from the 149,000 without power immediately following Tropical Storm Helene. But the restoration progress has been slow over the last few days.

Duke Energy crews continue to work around the clock to restore electricity to Buncombe County, Pinder said, prioritizing the hardest-hit communities as they rebuild. The biggest challenges are fallen trees and washed out roads, which limit access to the power lines.

More: Helene in Western North Carolina: Everything you need to know from help to recovery efforts

When will power be restored in Western North Carolina?

There is currently no set date for power restoration. On its website, Duke Energy declares it hopes to have the work done sometime next week, but it also warns that it may take a more extended period of time depending on the specific outage.

A new map on Duke’s website differentiates between complex repair zones and disaster rebuild zones, which may give an indication as to which areas will be repaired faster.

Complex repair zones, highlighted in yellow, experienced extensive damage like broken poles, downed lines or road access issues, making them difficult to work on. Disaster rebuild zones, highlighted in red, experienced significant damage and will require new poles, lines, electrical equipment and infrastructure. While these projects can take a long time, Duke has temporary restoration solutions under development.

County by county power outages

Here is the total number of Duke Energy customers without power in counties still heavily impacted, as of 1:30 pm on Tuesday, Oct. 8:

• Avery: 494 (37% of all Avery County Duke Energy customers). Also, Mountain Electric Cooperative reports about 7,250 members are without electricity.

• Buncombe: 59,727 (40%)

• Henderson: 12,282 (18%)

• McDowell: 2,574 (13%). Also, all 85 French Broad EMC members are without power.

• Mitchell: 3,225 (53%). Also, 3,896 (68%) of French Broad EMC members are without power.

• Rutherford: 3,058 (11%)

• Transylvania: 2,459 (12%). Also, 996 (14%) Haywood EMC members are without power.

• Yancey: 173 (27%). Also, 5,762 (41%) French Broad EMC members are without electricity.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: When will Duke Energy restore power in Western NC after Helene?