August 9, 2024 Update
11:49 AM | The majority of power has been restored, including the Ben Johnson outage. Our crews will continue working until power is fully restored for everyone. Crews estimate that they will have all outages restored by 6:00pm today. We appreciate your patience and cooperation as our team responds to Tropical Storm Debby.
10:30 AM | Our crews are actively tackling 10 different outages, affecting 1,150 members. The largest of these, impacting over 900 members in Orange County near I-85 and Ben Johnson, has been identified—a tree came down on a power line. We’re expecting to have power restored later this morning. The Ben Johnson feeder, which serves this area, also includes High Rock Rd., parts of Lebanon Rd., Efland Cedar Grove Rd., Saddle Club Rd., Richmond Rd., and many smaller roads.
The bulk of the rainfall from Debby has come to an end, and the water is now making its way into area rivers. Reports from the NWS Raleigh are showing rain totals around 7” in parts of our area. Thank you for your continued patience.
8:00 AM | We are experiencing other small outages in our area. A tree is down on Damascus Church Rd and our crews are on-site working to remove it and restore power. Additionally, we have four spans of wire down on Terry Road, affecting our New Sharon substation. Our teams are working around the clock to get everyone back online.
7:14 AM | Restoration efforts has resumed to full capacity this morning, especially in Orange County. Power was restored to the Ben Johnson outage last night but another outage has occurred early in the morning and our crews are back on-site, assessing the damage and working safely and efficiently to restore service. We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available. Thank you for your continued patience.
August 8, 2024 Update
10:00 PM | We now have 9 total outages affecting 790 members. Crews have made good progress restoring power to the Ben Johnson Rd (Orange) and other small outages. At this point in the evening, work will slow significantly but resume at full capacity at sunrise, especially in the South Lowell Rd area in Durham. We thank our members for their patience and understanding and apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused. We will resume updates first thing in the morning.
7:00 PM | Our dedicated co-op staff and line crews have been hard at work all day, battling the elements to restore power across our service area by repairing broken poles and clearing downed trees. We’re making great progress, with outages now reduced to 1,664 members. Crews are still focused on the hardest-hit areas on Ben Johnson Road (Orange) and South Lowell Road (Durham), with repairs continuing into the evening. We appreciate your patience and support as we work to bring everyone back online. Here are some incredible photos from the field showing the type of damage we experienced during the height of today’s storm.
- Fox Hill Farm (Orange): 286 members without power due to a downed line.
- Little River (Orange): 122 members without power. Crews are on-site investigating the cause.
- Wagner Dairy (Orange): 95 members without power. Crews are on-site investigating the cause.
12:00 PM | Tropical rain bands continue to move through our area and outages have slowly started to increase with 2,000 members currently without power primarily focused in Orange and Durham counties. The potential for further outages remains. We have crews working on large outages on Ben Johnson Road in Orange County and South Lowell Road in Durham County where there are several broken poles. All crews will work around the clock to ensure power is restored. Additionally, the risk of flash flooding continues—please stay safe and avoid driving through flooded roads. To view our outage map, visit: http://outageviewer.pemc.org:88/
The pictures below are from storm damage on Ben Johnson Rd. in Orange County:
10:45 AM | As Tropical Storm Debby continues moving through our area, rain and wind gusts are causing an increase in outages, particularly in Orange County. A significant outage in Durham has occurred due to broken poles on South Lowell Road which crews have been working diligently to restore. All crews will continue to work around the clock to restore power quickly and safely. We thank you for your patience and we will continue to provide updates throughout the day.
The pictures below are from storm damage on South Lowell Rd. in Durham:
8:30 AM | Thanks to the swift response from our Piedmont Electric staff and line crews, we’ve reduced outages to approximately 800 members. With continued rain throughout the day and wind gusts in the area, the risk of falling trees remains. We are closely monitoring the weather and are prepared to respond to any further outages as they occur.
6:41 AM | Due to the severe weather brought by Tropical Storm Debby, over 2,000 members in Orange County are experiencing outages. Our crews have been dispatched and are working diligently and safely to restore power. We appreciate your patience during this time. To view our outage map, visit: http://outageviewer.pemc.org:88/
August 7, 2024 Update
While it’s early to know how tropical storm Debby will impact us, Piedmont Electric is closely monitoring the storm and is prepared to respond at a moment’s notice. We encourage our members to be prepared and informed as well. You can stay up to date with co-op news on our website, Facebook and Twitter pages. Thank you for being members of Piedmont Electric and please be safe.
- National Weather Service updates here.
- Outage Reporting Number: 800.222.3107
- Live Outage Map
- Are you prepared?
Emergency Shelters
- Alamance– no shelter yet- will let media know- Emergency management -336-227-7365
- Caswell-emergency management- 336-694-5177
- Durham – social media or sign up at alertdurham.com 919-560-0300
- Lucas Middle School
- Granville– Granville Alert is a FREE service that provides emergency notifications for Granville County. Those who sign up for Granville Alert will have the option to receive any combination of text, email, or voice alerts.
- Granville Alert is the official emergency notification system used by Granville County Emergency Management to communicate with residents during emergencies. Sign up now to receive alerts from Granville County via text message, email, and/or voice message.
- Orange –emergency alerts ocalertsnc.com
- Shelters
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- Orange Middle School
308 Orange High School Road
Hillsborough, NC 27278 - Smith Middle School
9201 Seawell School Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
- Orange Middle School
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- Person – alerts – Sign Up – Smart911
- I don’t own a computer – how can I sign up for Person County Prepare? You can visit your local library to sign up online. Those who do not have computer access may contact Person County at 336-330-2233.
The Department of Social Services (DSS) manages the shelters during an emergency response. When a shelter is opened, DSS will alert the public. For information on sheltering, call the DSS Shelter Hotline at 336-322-8686.
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