The corner of Poplar Avenue and Elm Street in Carrboro saw some of the worst of Monday’s wind storm. Photo by Kirk Ross
Power outages, traffic jams and plenty of debris as gusts topped 50 m.p.h.
By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
Monday was clear, but anything but calm as gusts of more than 50 miles per hour knocked down dozens of trees and knocked out power to nearly 10,000 residents of Orange County.
Unofficial wind speed analysis from the National Weather Service in Raleigh showed that a 53 m.p.h. gust was recorded at an Orange County monitoring station in Duke Forest at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and a 46 m.p.h. recorded at Horace Williams Airport nine minutes later. The winds hit after soaking rains over the weekend loosened soils around trees.
By Wedneday morning Duke Energy reported that more than 1,000 Orange County residents were still without power, most of them in Hillsborough and Chapel Hill. The company estimated all of its Orange County customers would be back on line by Thursday at 5 p.m.
Hillsborough-based Piedmont Electric reported Tuesday that it has restored power to 10,000 customers who lost power in its six-county region. Progress Energy reported Wednesday that all of its customers in Orange and Chatham had their power back on.
The Carrboro Fire-Rescue Department responded to eight storm-related calls on Monday, according to Captain Kent Squires. “We were having to go from call to call†and divert trucks as different calls came in, he said.
Squires said the department received several calls regarding two trees that fell on a house on the corner of Elm Street and Poplar Avenue. Four houses were affected by the fallen trees, but one house “suffered at least moderate damage†and “was structurally unsound for [the residents] to stay in,†Squires said.
In addition, the department dealt with power line issues, trees blocking roadways and calls regarding strange odors or smoke, which Squires said were probably related to power surges.
Chapel Hill took the worst of the winds, losing power to traffic signals at 27 major intersections. By late afternoon, the conversion of intersections to four-way stops caused massive traffic tie ups throughout southern Orange County.
With Town Hall running on generators, public meetings scheduled for Monday night were rescheduled and crews worked through the night to clear trees and debris.
Richard Terrell, Chapel Hill’s public works director, said power had been restored to Town Hall and in most places around town, but two intersections were still running on generator power as of Wednesday morning.
“We’re still cleaning up and checking streams for blockages,†Terrell said. The main trouble spots for town and power crews, he said, were in the East Franklin Street area between Boundary Street and Estes Drive and around the Umstead Road and Pritchard Avenue Extension.
Susan Dickson contributed to this report