Hundreds without electricity as high winds sweep across WNC

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Duke Energy notified customers late Wednesday night about the possibility of outages as winds pick up across Western North Carolina.

As of 9 a.m., about 172 outages affecting more than 3,989 people had been reported across the Carolinas.

Customers without power include:

• Buncombe County: 235 (estimated restoration time – 3:30 p.m.)
• Cherokee: 23 (estimated restoration time – 12 p.m.)
• Henderson: 4 (estimated restoration time – 1:15 p.m.)
• Jackson: 39 (estimated restoration time – 12 p.m.)
• Macon: 73 (estimated restoration time – 5 p.m.)
• Rutherford: 9 (estimated restoration time – 9:45 a.m.)
• Swain: 79 (estimated restoration time – 11 a.m.)

Haywood EMC was reporting three active outages that had eight people without power.