By Peter Vankevich
Note: This story will be updated as more details come in.
Power on Ocracoke was cutoff early Saturday evening during a violent thunderstorm, disrupting businesses and restaurants. Ferry services were not affected by the outage.
At 8 p.m. Tideland EMC issued an emergency text message: Suspected waterspout has broken 2 poles & knocked 1 down. Will advise of estimated repair time as soon as damage assessment is complete.
At 8:09 p.m. Tideland provided an update: Allow 5 hours for repairs. Estimated time of restoration: 1 a.m.
According to Tideland EMC’s Facebook page, power was back up at 4:13 a.m. with an explanation that the longer time was due to the trucks getting stuck in the mud.
Ocracoke does have an emergency generator, but it was not turned on. Details on why it was not used will be forthcoming.
