Carrboro High School students were sent home early after a Piedmont Electric Cooperative outage disrupted service in Orange County and kept power off for part of the morning. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools said the unexpected half-day was tied to the ongoing outage, while grab-and-go lunches and bus transportation were made available for students who normally ride home.
The disruption affected more than 7,000 Piedmont Electric customers, with the utility first reporting widespread outages shortly before 7:30 a.m. The company said a transmission line issue was affecting several substations and that crews were “working safely and efficiently to restore power as quickly as possible.”
Where the outage hit hardest
The largest concentration of outages appeared in southern Orange County, west and southwest of Carrboro. More than 2,000 customers were without power along North Carolina Highway 54 and Jones Ferry Road, while another 2,600 customers and nearby neighborhoods lost service along Smith Level Road.
A separate outage also affected roughly 2,400 customers north of Chapel Hill. Piedmont Electric’s outage map showed sections near New Hope Church Road and Mt. Sinai without electricity, adding to the disruption across the area.
School dismissal and travel impacts
CHCCS said other dismissal procedures at Carrboro High continued normally, but they were moved up to 11:30 a.m. because of the outage. The district also said lunch was still being provided through grab-and-go meals, and students who usually take the bus home could still use school transportation.
The outage also knocked out several traffic lights in the affected areas, which created added caution for drivers. North Carolina law says a flashing or dark traffic light should be treated like a four-way stop, with drivers required to stop and check all directions before entering the intersection.
Restoration timeline kept shifting
By 8:30 a.m., Piedmont Electric said it expected service to all affected customers to return around 10:30 a.m. Later updates showed progress, with the cooperative saying by 11:30 a.m. that most customers had power back, though more than 2,600 customers along Smith Level Road were still without service and were expected to be restored by 2 p.m.
At 12:15, Piedmont Electric reported that the remaining customers had service restored. The company later said on Facebook that a damaged transformer at its Carrboro substation had complicated repair work, though crews were still handling the issue.
Customers who continue to experience outages can report them by calling 800-222-3107, texting “#out” to the same number, or using SmartHub and selecting “Report an issue/inquiry” under Quick Links.
Read more at: chapelboro.com
