Tree falls onto I-77; severe weather around Charlotte causes airport ground stop, thousands of power outages

CHARLOTTE, NC. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Severe weather in the Charlotte area on Wednesday evening brought power outages and airport delays. 

Tree falls onto I-77

A tree fell onto Interstate 77 in Huntersville around 9:30 p.m., blocking the southbound general-purpose lanes near Hambright Road. It reopened just before 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Warnings for Lincoln and Gaston counties

At 7:52 p.m., a Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for most of Lincoln County and northern Gaston County. The National Weather Service reported winds of up to 60 mph and quarter-sized hail.

Approaching 6 p.m., warnings were issued for Catawba, Iredell, Union, and Stanly counties in North Carolina, and York and Chester in South Carolina.

Power outages

There are several areas with hundreds of power outages, according to Duke Energy. Nearly 900 customers lost power in western Lincoln County, while 478 were without power in Kannapolis from a downed tree. In Charlotte, almost 300 were without power in Plaza Midwood, and more than 350 were affected in University City. 

The Kannapolis outage was expected to be restored by 9 p.m., and the Lincoln County one by 11 p.m. The most outages Wednesday night were in Anson County, but Duke Energy reports that the 1,000 west of Wadesboro who lost power stem from equipment going offline.

These are expected to be restored by 7:15 a.m. Thursday.

CLT ground stop 

At Charlotte Douglas International, a ground stop was issued at 6:15 p.m. due to thunderstorms and extended to 10 p.m. Wednesday. It was originally supposed to last until 7 p.m.

Flooding 

A Flash Flood Warning was issued for central Lincoln County, including Lincolnton and Iron Station, until 11:45 p.m.

There was a Flash Flood Warning at 6:19 p.m. for southern Lancaster County. Between 2 and 3 inches of rain had fallen at that point, and additional rainfall of 1 to 2 inches was possible. Areas affected included Springdale, Elgin, and Heath Springs. 

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