Duke Energy preps crews as future Imedla spurs North Carolina state of emergency

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Governor Josh Stein declared a state of emergency for North Carolina on Saturday ahead of Tropical Depression Nine, which is likely to become Tropical Storm Imelda.

“We don’t know where it’s going to hit on the Atlantic seaboard. North Carolina is a possible target and so we need to be prepared,” Stein said.

Officials say they are getting ahead of the storm by deploying the National Guard, Emergency Management and Duke Energy crews.

“We are always watching the next storm and working to get better every storm,” Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks said.

This system is coming a year after Hurricane Helene devastated North Carolina. Duke Energy crews still remember the heartbreak of seeing the community struggle.

“As we come around on this one-year anniversary of Helene that our jobs are really important to giving security back to people during storms,” Brooks said.

Duke Energy is preparing thousands of line and tree workers that can easily be shifted ahead of the storm or after the storm has passed.

“With this particular storm, even if it doesn’t make landfall the significant amount of rain along with the wind gusts could definitely create outage scenarios at least in our coastal areas potentially inland,” Brooks said.

Over the past few years, Duke Energy has learned from each storm and upgraded software that has helped avoid roughly a million outages just last year.

“We’ve added upgraded poles and wires to strengthen the grid against severe weather, we’ve added self-healing technology that can automatically detect a power outage and reroute service to restore service faster,” Brooks said.

It’s not just crews who should be getting prepared; at home, residents can put together a “go bag” with important documents.

“Imagine if you couldn’t move for a week and stores were closed for a week. What would you need in that period that’s what folks should go ahead and squirrel away, so if the storm comes, they’re ready,” Stein said.

That includes if you have a medical need that requires electricity to have a reliable place to go in case you lose power.