Moore County, North Carolina is declaring its state of emergency as power outages continue after a “deliberate” attack over the weekend damaged two substations. The attack left roughly 45,000 people without power in North Carolina.
Under the state of emergency, a curfew is in place from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. each night, and residents of the county are encouraged to conserve fuel.
Jeff Brooks, a spokesman for Duke Energy, said Monday that the company had restored power to about 7,000 customers. About 38,000 remain without power, and Brooks said that it’s likely full restoration won’t happen until Wednesday or Thursday. In a press release shared earlier in the day, Duke Energy general manager Jason Hollifield said “the damage is beyond repair in some areas.”
“That leaves us with no option but to replace large pieces of equipment — which is not an easy or quick task,” said Hollifield said.
The outage has also rendered wastewater pumps in the area out of order, and schools in the county have been closed. Traffic lights are also out, and emergency shelters have been opened to the public.
Power outages were first reported to police on Saturday, Dec. 3, shortly after 7:00 p.m., according to Moore County sheriff Ronnie Fields. When utility companies responded to the substations, “evidence was discovered that indicated that intentional vandalism had occurred at multiple sites,” Fields said on Dec. 4.
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The Pilot newspaper, Southern Pines
In a press conference held on Sunday afternoon, Fields said that the damage had been caused by gunfire. Fields said that the scene was the same at both sites, calling the attack “targeted” and done by a person or persons who “knew exactly what they were doing.”
No motive has been provided for the attack, which is being investigated as a criminal act. In his Sunday press conference, Fields could not say if the incident rises to the level of domestic terrorism.
On Monday afternoon, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas addressed the situation, saying the attack “appears to have been deliberate.”
“We are working with energy companies in local communities to address the situation impacting the power that reaches homes in the targeted neighborhoods,” Mayorkas said. “The question is, is it an act of malfeasance or otherwise? Early evidence suggests that it was deliberate. And the investigation is underway.”
The Charlotte, North Carolina, branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also looking into the attack. On Sunday, the office told CBS News it was “investigating the willful damage to power facilities” in the area, but declined to comment further because the investigation was ongoing.
The Pilot newspaper, Southern Pines
On Monday afternoon, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper called the attack a “criminal act” in a press conference.
“This was an intentional attack that caused significant harm to people,” Cooper said.
