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NC emergency crews to update public on Hurricane Ian
DURHAM, N.C. — Dozens of local leaders and emergency management officials will gather Tuesday at Durham City Hall to update the public ahead of Hurricane Ian’s approach.
At Tuesday’s event, officials from Durham, Orange, Lee and Chatham counties will discuss their approach to storm forecasting, hurricane response and how they are strengthening the grid against severe storms.
The meeting will also focus on the significant improvements Duke Energy has made around the area to reduce outages during storms. The meeting will be held at 1 p.m. at 101 City Hall Plaza.
Ian is expected to impact three of the six states Duke Energy serves. Jeff Brooks, a Duke Energy spokesperson, told WRAL News crews will stay local until they are positive they are not needed before deploying elsewhere to help.
“We have to make sure we’re protecting our service area here,” Brooks said. “We would not release crews from the Carolinas until we were certain that our areas are not going to be impacted. Our first priority is always the local community.”
Brooks said it’s not unusual for multiple states to be impacted at once.
“It’s like moving an Army, really,” Brooks said. “And it’s something we’ve had a lot of experience with, unfortunately.”
Crews from Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio are also available to assist workers in the Carolinas and Florida.
Duke energy serves six states including the Carolinas and Florida. Duke tells us it is not unusual to have both Florida and North Carolina impacted at once by the same storm.