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Carolina storm: More than 289,000 customers without power. Problems will linger into Monday.

Katie Wadington Joel Burgess
The Citizen-Times
A Duke Energy truck is driven on Haywood Road in West Asheville Dec. 9, 2018.

Tens of thousands of people are without power in Western North Carolina after a winter storm dumped icy snow on the area overnight Saturday.

The number of outages may grow, and some customers will be without power at least until Monday, a Duke Energy spokesman said. The power company said it is prioritizing repairs and starting with facilities crucial to health and safety.

As of 2 p.m. Sunday, Duke was reporting more than 77,000 customers without power in WNC, and more than 289,000 across the Carolinas.

Buncombe and Rutherford counties were hardest hit, with many in Haywood, Henderson and Transylvania also in the dark. 

Duke was not sure yet of a restoration times.

Duke spokesman Bill Norton said outages will likely increase throughout Sunday as snow accumulates and trees come down.

"So, we’re encouraging customers to keep their devices charged," Norton said.

Damage assessors were in the field early Sunday and repair crews began rolling out shortly before 10 a.m. Those personnel had to wait until roads were passable to start work.

Norton said some customers will see restoration before midnight — "while other cases it will take longer" and said some will be "multi-day."

The company will have more information as assessments come in, the spokesman said.

Sarah Christy lost power at her Haw Creek home at 6 a.m. Sunday. Her heat is electric and she said friends reached out to her, saying she should come shelter with them.

Christy stayed home, thinking she would use her camp stove. Instead hunkered down until her heat came on eight hours later, at about 2:20 p.m. 

"I had all these projects lined up to do on a snow day, and then I realized as was lying in bed that every single one had to do with electricity."

Christy said she was lucky, and her home stayed warm until her heat came back on.

To help speed up power restoration, additional repair crews have come from as far as Florida and Indiana, Duke spokesperson Norton said. That gives the utility 8,700 people on the ground across the Carolinas, he said, including 1,100 in the Asheville in addition to regular local crews. 

Duke will concentrate first on facilities important to public health and safety and then on power lines that will help the greatest number of customers, he said.

The company had projected 500,000 could be without power across the Carolinas. Outages have not reached half that.

The storm will have less effect than some past events. In 2002, an ice storm knocked out power to 1.8 million customers in the Carolinas. So far, Winter Storm Diego is not among the top 10 in terms of power outages for Duke.

Outages included (1 p.m. Sunday):

Avery: 279

Buncombe: 20,764

Clay: 14

Haywood: 7,583

Henderson: 8,136

Jackson: 4,878

Macon: 5,539

McDowell: 1,144

Mitchell: 30

Polk: 4,563

Rutherford: 13,992

Swain: 264

Transylvania: 9,469

Local government officials have urged people not to drive, to park cars off the road to allow passage of snowplows and to be careful with heating sources. 

MORE: Officials outline plans for snow response, ask public not to drive, be careful of heaters

MORE: Snow started piling up Saturday night in WNC, Asheville