Strong storms barreled through Granville County late Monday, toppling trees and ripping branches across roads and power lines around Oxford. By early Tuesday morning, residents from downtown streets to rural neighborhoods were waking up to blocked lanes and dark homes. The heaviest damage was reported along Highway 96 northwest of Oxford, where crews found trees resting on wires.
According to the outage map from Duke Energy, close to 1,000 customers were without power in the Granville County area early Tuesday, with clusters of outages near the towns of Stem and Butner. The utility's tracker showed most outages concentrated along Highway 96 and in scattered pockets across the county.
The WRAL Breaking News Tracker documented multiple locations where trees had fallen onto lines and blocked roads, hampering early restoration work, as reported by WRAL. WRAL added that, as of about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, Duke Energy was still assessing damage and had not provided a timeline for when power would be restored.
Piedmont Triad Hit Even Harder
The same storm complex did far more damage farther west in the Piedmont Triad, where local television crews reported widespread structural damage and mass outages. WXII reported trees down on homes and said outages across the Triad topped 50,000, while Duke Energy's regional outage tracker showed more than 30,000 customers without power in the Winston-Salem and Greensboro areas.
How To Stay Safe And Report Outages
Officials warn residents to stay away from downed lines, treat every fallen wire as live, and avoid driving around barricades. For local reporting and restoration updates, municipal guidance points residents to utilities' outage trackers and apps; the Town of Carrboro lists reporting options including the utility outage map and a text report line. If a situation is life-threatening, call 911; for non-emergencies report outages through your utility's website or app, local officials say.
Crews Assessing Damage, Timeline Still Unclear
Duke Energy said crews were being mobilized across affected areas but restoration timelines remained fluid as workers dealt with downed lines and obstacles, according to WRAL. Residents in the hardest-hit parts of Granville County should expect crews on their streets in the coming hours as utilities prioritize safety and critical facilities.
