ROCKINGHAM — Hundreds in Richmond County and thousands across the Carolinas are out of power Friday morning as strong winds sweep across the region.
As of 11 a.m., Duke Energy reported that more than 170,000 of its customers in both North and South Carolina were affected. More than 140,000 of those are just in North Carolina.
Duke’s outage map shows that 391 homes and possibly businesses in Richmond County are in the dark, mostly north of Rockingham and west of U.S. 220 toward the Pee Dee River. There is another outage on the east side of 220, north of town.
Many counties have more than 2,000 without power. Forsyth and Guilford each have more than 12,000 customers affected.
Pee Dee Electric reported that 1,100 of its customers were out, including more than 600 in Richmond County. There were also nearly 400 affected in Moore, 33 in Anson and two in Stanly.
The winds responsible for the outages have gusts of more than 40 mph.
Temperatures are expected to drop throughout the day, with an overnight low dipping to around 13 degrees just before sunrise. However, the wind chill factor will make it feel like zero, according to the National Weather Service.
