Thousands Without Power As Hurricane Ian Slams Into Carolinas

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Thousands across North and South Carolina are without power after Hurricane Ian made landfall northeast of Charleston as a Category 1 on Friday (September 30) afternoon.

As of 3:30 p.m., nearly 150,000 outages were reported across South Carolina's Lowcountry region after heavy rain and winds swept through the area, per Live5News. Dominion Energy reported 779 active outages impacting more than 99,000, including nearly 62,000 in Charleston County, while Berkeley Electric Cooperative reported more than 27,000 outages in the Tri-County area.

Duke Energy reported more than 11,000 customers were without power in Wake County as North Carolina began to feel the impacts of the intense storm, WRAL reports. Heavy winds have blown over several trees and power lines, blocking roadways and knocking out power in the area. Keep up-to-date with outages in the area with Duke Energy's outage map.

Hurricane Ian made landfall in South Carolina near Georgetown shortly after 2 p.m. ET with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph and causing a "life-threatening" storm surge along the coast, according to the National Hurricane Center. Gov. Henry McMaster issued a statement following the storm's impact on the state, encouraging residents to take proper precautions and tune into storm coverage to stay up-to-date on potential threats.

"A lot of prayers have been answered – this storm is not as bad as it could have been, but don't let your guard down yet," he said. "We are not out of the woods yet, there is water on the roads, still heavy winds, and it is still dangerous in many parts of the state."

Hurricane Ian initially made landfall in Florida on Wednesday (September 28) as a powerful Category 4 storm, leaving a path of destruction in its wake before weakening as it moved north.


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