Moore County buzzes back to life as power restored for most. ‘Open for business’ Thursday

Power has been restored a day ahead of schedule for nearly all of the Moore County households and businesses that lost it, Duke Energy says.

Nick Picerno, chair of the Moore County Board of Commissioners, said that the county will be open for business on Thursday.

“Come back, join us, play some golf,” Picerno said during a news conference late Wednesday afternoon in Carthage.

Local officials said the county’s curfew and state of emergency will lift at 5 a.m. Thursday. A shelter will remain open until noon with Baptist meal sites open until 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

There have been no deadly vehicle accidents due to power outages, officials said. One potential death related to the outages has been turned over to medical examiners to determine the cause.

No arrests have been made in connection with the gunfire that damaged two electrical substations in Moore County and knocked out power for days.

Authorities offered a reward of up to $75,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible.

Power trickles back on

Electrical power seemed to trickle out like water from a frozen pipe Wednesday.

Edna White, in her house between Whispering Pines and Southern Pines, “didn’t realize it was back on at first. I was sitting in the couch and felt the ceiling fan, then my phone went off with a text from Duke Energy.”

White dressed and went to work at the nearby Ace Hardware store, which had reopened on Monday with generator power and got electricity back at 11 a.m. Wednesday. The store was seeing a steady stream of shoppers, White said, though most didn’t seem in great need.

“I think they just wanted to get out of the house.”

White said that except for some ruined food in her fridge, she had fared well through the outage, even using the time to read some books by flashlight.

”But if it ever happens again, I’ll be more prepared next time,” she said. “I’ll have more propane and more drinkable water.”

Lights in Whispering Pines were back on Wednesday afternoon, illuminating a holiday display featuring a dozen decorated trees outside the village’s public works department.

In the county seat of Carthage on Wednesday’s rainy morning, a neon sign outside of the Moore County Sports Complex read “Shelter and Showers.” For days after the Saturday attack on two electrical substations that started the widespread outage, the complex had been operating as a shelter for community members to sleep, use WiFi, eat or take a hot shower.

Sarah Hilliard beamed as she walked to her car, leaving the shelter. Her husband had just texted her that the power at their house had come back on.

“It’s like the text you’ve been waiting for,” she said. “It’s finally come through.”

Hilliard lives down the street from the sports complex and has been coming there for the last three days to use the WiFi while hers was out and to charge her devices. She said she was fortunate to be able to stay in her house to keep warm by the fire and use the water and the stove. Having lived in the Northeast, Hilliard said her family was used to power outages during storms but this was the first time she had ever taken advantage of a nearby shelter. She said because of underground wiring at her home, she thought they would never need to use a generator.

“We’ve heard that the power there is relatively stable, like they don’t lose power that often,” she said. “But obviously this is an unusual event.”

Hilliard said she saw social media posts and news conferences announcing the complex was open during the outage. She said there were families and older people staying at the shelter overnight and getting additional support.

“It’s a humbling experience, because you’re clearly surrounded by people who don’t have the resources,” she said. “To see that people who maybe don’t have the same resources are being taken care of is heartwarming.”

Hilliard feels a stronger connection with the community because of the outage.

“People are really looking out for each other, and it’s reassuring,” she said.

A restaurant returns

Stubbs & Son, a restaurant off U.S. 501 in Carthage, had its power restored Tuesday morning. It’s served barbecue, seafood and sandwiches from Monday through Friday in the town for the past six years. Luckily, the restaurant didn’t have to throw out much food during the power outage, according to owners Gary and Deborah Talley. They moved food to refrigerators at their other Stubbs & Son location in Sanford, about 15 minutes away, which did not lose power Saturday night.

Robert Brown, a resident of Whispering Pines, was eating a barbecue lunch at the restaurant Wednesday while waiting for power to be restored at his house. He had stayed two nights with a friend and then one at a hotel.

The power outage reminded Brown of the first COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in 2020, he said.

“It was that surreal atmosphere about everything,” he said. “It’s not quite to that level, but same sort of feel overall.”

Brown lives alone and has a small dog, who he snuck into the hotel, he said. He hoped to have his power restored by Wednesday evening.

“Of course we don’t know all the facts,” he said. “I think people are most worried about getting the power back.”

Power restoration

Power returned to the 402-bed FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital around 9 a.m. Wednesday, said Gretchen Kelly, a spokesperson for the hospital. The hospital had been operating on a backup generator, but on Wednesday was in the hours-long process of transitioning from generator power to full power.

While the attacks initially struck 45,000 customers and their families, Duke Energy had whittled that number down to just 1,000 by late afternoon Wednesday.

The smaller Randolph Electric Membership Cooperative also lost power to roughly 2,600 homes, and has been doing “rolling power-ups” throughout the week — giving families a few hours of electricity at a time.

Duke Energy said it had completed work on the damaged substations and hoped to have most power restored Wednesday before midnight.

“All substation equipment damaged from recent vandalism has either been fully repaired or replaced,” the company said on its outage website Wednesday. “Once we have completed all necessary testing, the gradual restoration of service to those Moore County communities still without power will begin. To avoid overwhelming the electrical system we will bring power back on gradually, with the goal of having the majority of customers restored before midnight tonight.”

Downtown Southern Pines buzzed back to life with the return of electricity. Ashey Tramontin got the word when a neighbor came over to let her know; she had flipped the main breaker at her house to prevent damage from a potential surge.

When she turned the switch and the lights came on, “I started a load of laundry and came to work. I didn’t take a shower or anything.”

She and her young son, Reid, who’s been out of school all week, came to open up Tramontin’s North Carolina-centric gift store on Broad Street, Against the Grain, in hopes of making up some lost sales.

At least one customer dropped in for a T-shirt and a bar of scented soap.

‘Everybody has each other’

Over at Stubbs & Son on Wednesday afternoon, the lunch rush was on. Gary Talley said that the restaurant “may have lost some slaw, but slaw won’t carry over.”

Deborah Talley said some of their employees who live in the affected Moore County areas lost power but most of them had it restored as of Wednesday.

The Talleys, who live in Sanford, didn’t lose power and the restaurant location there had lines backed up each day.

“They like our barbecue, which has got a little kick to it,” he said. “We run specials on Wednesdays and Thursdays of beef brisket and on Wednesdays I do barbecue chicken or barbecue ribs.”

At Pete’s Family Restaurant in Carthage, power returned Tuesday after two days of closures, and by mid-afternoon Wednesday business seemed back to normal.

About 25 people sat in the noisy restaurant. On the menu were favorites country steak over rice, Greek salad, fried chicken and beef stew over mashed potatoes.

Diners were in the restaurant when the lights cut off Saturday night, owner Pete Kakouras said.

“Nobody knew what happened,” he said.

Kakouras said they had to throw away all the spoiled food and received new shipments on Tuesday. They will put in a generator to prepare for future outages.

Kakouras, who moved from Greece to North Carolina in the 1970s, said he has been helping his neighbors during the power outage by providing breakfast meals to children. He also provided one neighbor with an extra generator.

“Everybody has each other,” he said. “The community gets stronger. We’ve been here for 26 years, everybody knows us. … it’s been tight. This is home.”

Investigation of damage

Moore County sheriff’s deputies said the investigation into the damage is moving quickly thanks to numerous calls to its tip line, which is 910-947-4444.

The FBI released a poster seeking information and promoting the tip line. People can also submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov, or contact a local FBI office or the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.

“On the evening of December 3, 2022, unknown suspect(s) fired multiple shots at two Duke Energy Substations in Moore County, North Carolina. The substations are located approximately 10 miles apart in West End and Carthage, North Carolina,” the poster says.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced rewards on Wednesday of up to $25,000 each from the state, Duke Energy and Moore County.

Moore County is southwest of Raleigh and includes Southern Pines, Carthage and Pinehurst — a world-renowned golfing community that has hosted the U.S. Open.

On Tuesday, Cooper told reporters that law enforcement was “leaving no stone unturned in this investigation,” but revealed no specifics. Both the FBI and nearby Fort Bragg are involved.

“Looking at all of the information, this is a very thorough investigation — federal, state and local all coordinating,” he said.

The governor also said that they need to “assess where we are on our critical infrastructure. I know that there are a number of federal requirements that utilities have to abide by. But this seemed to be too easy.”

At least one state lawmaker, Moore County Republican Sen. Tom McInnis, said the legislature will look at updating state law to devise penalties that fit the crime, the Fayetteville Observer reported.

Despite temperatures near freezing at times, no confirmed deaths have come due to the outages, Moore County emergency officials report. One fatality in a home without power is still being investigated and may be unrelated to the outages.

Moore County Schools are expected to be closed to students through Thursday, and a curfew remains in effect.

Staff writers Kimberly Cataudella, Josh Shaffer and Korie Dean contributed.