Avent Ferry Complex is now operating on full power after Winter Storm Jonas left more than 1,000 Duke Energy customers in the area without power for about 20 hours over the weekend.
According to Duke Energy’s maps, the area stretching from the intersection of Avent Ferry Road and Western Boulevard to the intersection of Trailwood Drive and Tanager Street was without power. Students living in AFC were without power from about 8:15 p.m. Friday until 5:45 p.m. Saturday, according to Curtis Jackson Jr., assistant director of University Housing for Southeast Campus.
About 40 students were allowed to move into empty rooms in Wood and North halls to stay warm for the night and to have access to electricity for homework and reliable communication while AFC was under blackout, according to Allison Colley, community assistance coordinator for Wood Hall.
Students were cleared to return to AFC at about 6 p.m. Saturday, according to Jackson.
Duke Energy’s most recent reports of remaining outages in the Carolinas counts roughly 50,000. The company estimated after initial damage assessments that all of the outages would be repaired by Monday at 11 p.m.
Wake County is still among the areas with the most remaining outages, along with Johnston and Nash, according to Duke Energy.
Friday night, Duke Energy claimed to have experienced problems with its outage reporting systems, which slowed down the outage reporting process and updates from the company.
Lloyd Yates, executive vice president of Market Solutions and president of Duke Energy Carolinas, apologized for delays in repairs.
“We apologize for any frustration and inconvenience this caused customers,” Yates said.
As of 4:25 a.m. Saturday morning, the Weather Channel estimated that 208,000 East Coast utility customers were without power due to the effects of Jonas with the vast majority in North Carolina, where 151,000 customers suffered outages mainly due to heavy ice buildup from freezing rain Friday.
For comparison, based on estimates at the same point in time, Virginia and South Carolina had 15,000 customers without power each, New Jersey with 6,000 in the dark and Delaware and Maryland each had about 5,000 households or businesses without power.
An inch of ice fell around the homes down Avent Ferry Road.
