Brief power outage affects 5,500
HOWARD COUNTY, MARYLAND - The 5,500 Howard County residents who lost power the morning of July 2 have a squirrel to thank.
"Believe it or not, that's not that uncommon," said Duke Energy spokeswoman Angeline Protogere. "A squirrel interfered with some of the equipment," she said. The squirrel caused a power shortage at one of the substations located at 401 S. Main St., Protogere said.
The power shortage occurred just before 9 a.m. Many facilities restored power within about an hour. The shortage affected nearly 2,000 people in Kokomo and nearly 3,600 in the surrounding area. In total, 5,564 lost power.
In the meantime, local law enforcement is trying to get stop signs to the traffic lights that are still out, Police Sgt. Jeff McKay said. Anytime a traffic light is out, McKay said the intersection should be treated as a four-way stop.
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Power outage update: 252,596 remain without electricity Wednesday
EASTERN CAROLINA - Power is slowly being restored to Eastern Carolina residents after Hurricane Florence made landfall near Wilmington on Friday, September 15.
On Monday, more than half a million people remained without power across the state.
As of Wednesday morning at 1am, the Dept. of Public Safety reports 252,596 total power outages in North Carolina.
More than half of those customers are in Eastern Carolina.
More than 32,000 customers are without power in Carteret County and roughly 21,000 are without power in Onslow County.
In Craven County, roughly 15,000 people remain without power Wednesday morning.
Many of the state's outages are effecting the Wilmington area,…