Duke Energy substation.Photo: John Nagy/The Pilot via AP
Tens of thousands of residents are without electricity following what authorities allege was a deliberate attack on two power substations in Moore County, N.C.
During a Sunday press conference, Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields announced the outages began on Saturday at about 7 p.m.
“The person or persons who did this knew what they were doing,” Fields told reporters.
“It was targeted, it wasn’t random,” he said.
Officials declared a countywide state of emergency, implementing a curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., until further notice.
As temperatures dipped into the 40s, around 35,000 people remained without power Monday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us. Monroe County is home to about 100,000 residents, per the 2021 U.S. Census.
Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks said he expects repairs to extend into Thursday as crews are “pursuing multiple paths of restoration” on “pretty sophisticated repairs.”
No arrests have been made and authorities are still investigating a motive, including the rumor circulated on social media that the attack was an attempt to stop a local drag show that evening, Fields confirmed. (The show went on.)
He also declined to classify the incident as an act of domestic terrorism, but instead said it was “cowardly,” adding that “we’re living in some challenging times.”
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On Twitter, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper referred to the outage as a “serious, intentional crime” which he expects “state and federal authorities to thoroughly investigate and bring those responsible to justice.”
An emergency shelter equipped to accommodate about 250 people has opened up at a local sports complex.
The FBI has joined the investigation and area schools remain closed.
Anyone with information on the incident is urged to call the Moore County Sheriff’s Office at (910) 947-4444.
source: people.com
