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Four people killed in North Carolina from Hurricane Ian
Hurricane Ian on Friday brought down trees, flooded roads and left more than hundreds of thousands of customers in North Carolina without power.
Outages were improving slowly on Saturday, but according to Duke Energy, 20% of Wake County was without power at one point. Spokesperson Jeff Brooks said the winter storm in January was the last time we saw that large of a power outage.
As of Saturday evening, less than 1% remained without power.
The remnants of Hurricane Ian proved to be not just destructive, but deadly here in North Carolina. Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said Saturday at least four people died during Friday’s storm.
Three of those deaths were in Johnston County.
A 65-year-old Johnston County man died Saturday morning in North Carolina’s first reported death related to Ian. The man ran a generator in his closed garage and likely died of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office.
On Friday night, a 24-year-old woman died in a crash on Clayton. Clayton police said her car ran off the road, struck and tree sustained heavy damage due to the wet conditions of the road.
A 25-year-old man died Friday when he lost control of his vehicle on Raleigh Road in Johnston County and hydroplaned into another vehicle in stormy conditions
A 22-year-old man drowned in Martin County when his truck left the roadway and submerged in a flooded swamp Friday night.
Rain totals and wind gusts
High wind gusts were reported in N.C. in the hours before and after Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane Friday near Georgetown, South Carolina with maximum sustained wind of 85 mph. Rain and winds were felt well into central and eastern N.C.
In Siler City, gusts reached 61 mph. In Fayetteville, gusts reached 56 mph. In the Triangle, gusts were closer to 40 mph.
Early Saturday, President Joe Biden approved a state of emergency in North Carolina and “ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Ian.”
Cary received over 5 inches of rain Friday, the most in the area, while Raleigh-Durham International Airport recorded over 3 inches of rain. Most in our area received between 2 and 4 inches.
Road conditions in the Triangle were mostly passable on Friday, although areas of ponding left some deep water on roads around Glenwood Avenue. Triangle roads were clear Saturday, and at the coast most of the water covering roadways had receded. Among the hardest hit areas were Ocean Isle Beach and Myrtle Beach.
First reports of Triangle damage on Friday
On Friday along East Whitaker Mill Road near Center Road, a tree blew down, taking with it power lines, causing outages in the area. The tree did not fall on a home or block traffic.
There were also reports of multiple trees fallen in north Raleigh near Durant Road and Litchfield Road. Parts of trees and limbs were also down in Raleigh along Ashe Avenue near Hillsborough Street.
Along Granville Drive and Perquimans Drive in Raleigh, a downed tree was blocking the road.
In the Midtown area of Raleigh near North Hills, a tree fell on a home. A viewer submitted the photo below to WRAL News.
A tree fell on Gresham Avenue east of the Northgate Dog Park and Ellerbe Creek. The downed tree knocked out power for several people living in the Northgate Park neighborhood.
On Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill, a tree branch knocked out power to about 250 homes.
Also, along King Street a tree fell onto a home. Crews from the Carrboro Police Department, Carrboro Fire Department and Orange County Emergency Services were on scene to clear the tree.
In Chapel Hill, South Columbia Street was closed in both directions near Westwood Drive due to a downed tree. The Chapel Hill Fire Department is asking for people to avoid the area.
Someone was inside the car when the tree fell on it. No one was injured, but one of the car’s headlights was shattered.