Durham power outage update: Power restored, crew damaged equipment
Power was finally restored late Thursday for the thousands of Duke Energy customers in Durham who were without power for about 35 hours -- after a work crew damaged equipment at a Durham substation.
Posted — Updated- Power restored to all Durham customers just after midnight.
- Outage caused by work crew that damaged equipment at substation.
- At its peak, more than 11,700 people were without power – for 35 hours.
Jeff Brooks with Duke Energy said a company work crew damaged equipment at a Durham substation in the process of doing maintenance work on Wednesday around 2 p.m. According to Brooks, crews were making grid improvements and reliability upgrades when the equipment failure occurred, wiping out power to 11,700 people at its peak.
Due to the extent of the extensive damage, Duke Energy pushed back the estimated time for power to come back on repeatedly throughout the day Thursday. Duke Energy originally said power would be restored by 4 p.m. Wednesday.
According to Brooks, power restoration happened in two phases. First, Duke Energy had to restore power to the damaged substation. Next, crews had to turn on each individual power line.
"Certainly it's not the experience that we wanted to deliver as a utility on a cold day, and we understand the frustration of customers that are without power," Brooks said. "We share that frustration. Our crews worked throughout the night in the hopes that we could get everybody back up by midnight, but once we were able to see the full scope of damage, we realized it was going to take more time."
Michael De Los Santos, the owner of Mike D's BBQ, says the outage has affected his business because he was forced to close up shop.
"Normally, I'm serving food right now, but all that revenue is gone and not coming back," Santos said.
The hours-long power outage delivers a blow to businesses and employees.
"Most live in this area," Santos said. "They are not able to get a paycheck, not earning any money."
Emergency shelters offer warmth in Durham
Durham City-County Emergency Management Department opened an emergency shelter at the old Northern High School, located at 117 Tom Wilkinson Road. The shelter opened Thursday at 8 p.m. and remained open until power was restored.
No power meant no working heat at Richard Jones' home.
"I was doing okay last night but it's almost two days so the temperature has gone down," Richard Jones, lives in Durham, using shelter said.
He found a warm place to stay at Durham's emergency shelter.
"It is extremely beneficial," Jones said. "Especially for those who are homeless and stand on the street all day."
Jinizha Johnson with the Durham County Emergency Management Division says the site is an essential resource for any Durham resident in need.
"We don't want people to be out there with being in the cold, there's possibility of hypothermia and other issues, so we decided we needed to open up the shelter," Johnson said.
Power outage timeline: Live updates
- 12:05 a.m.: Power restored.
- 4 p.m.: Duke Energy estimates power will be restored at 8:15 p.m.
- 3:30 p.m.: 7,995 customers without power.
- 2:30 p.m.: 7,997 customers without power.
- 12 p.m.: 10,697 customers without power.
- 11 a.m.: 11, 709 customers still without power.
- 9:08 a.m.: Durham police provide list of intersections where traffic lights are not working.
- 9:05 a.m.: Time of restoration pushed back to 6 p.m.
- 8:35 a.m.: Time of restoration pushed back to 1 p.m.
- 8:03 a.m.: Durham County Government announces on Facebook that county libraries will act as warming centers Thursday.
- 8 a.m.: 11,738 customers still without power. Time of restoration pushed back to 12:15 p.m.
- 6:56 a.m.: DPS says Middle College at Durham Technical Community College is also closed today due to the ongoing power outage.
- 6:20 a.m.: DPS announces six schools will be closed Thursday due to power outage.
- 6 a.m.: Number spikes to more than 11,000 customers without power. Time of restoration pushed back to noon.
- 5 a.m.: Number continues to decrease. Nearly 8,000 remain without power.
- 4:15 a.m.: 8,017 customers without power. Time of restoration pushed back to 10 a.m.
- 1:14 a.m.: 8,015 without power. Time of restoration pushed back to 5 a.m.
- 11:15 p.m.: Time of restoration pushed back to 3 a.m.
- 4 p.m.: Time of restoration pushed back to midnight.
- 3 p.m.: More than 11,000 customers without power.
- 1:45 p.m.: Equipment issue at a Durham substation causes mass power outage. Time of restoration is 4 p.m.
Duke Energy was able to switch about 3,500 customers without power to other lines overnight, but on Thursday demand caused the power outage to spike again.
At 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, approximately 10,697 customers were still without power. At 2:30 p.m., the outage was down to 7,997.
The following Durham Public Schools were closed Thursday due to the power outage:
- Y. E. Smith
- Merrick Moore
- RN Harris
- Burton
- C. C. Spaulding
- Oak Grove elementary schools
- Middle College at Durham Technical Community College
Traffic lights were out at several major roads and intersections in Durham Thursday morning, causing a headache for morning commuters. Several roads and intersections did not have functioning traffic lights.
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