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Hurricane Florence Could Knock Out Power for Up to 3 Million

And it may take weeks to restore, a power company warned.

Hurricane Florence—a predicted “storm of a lifetime” that is expected to bring fierce winds, storm surges, and heavy flooding to the Carolinas in the coming days—could knock out the power of up to 3 million customers for weeks, according to the largest power provider in the region. The Weather Channel reports Thursday that Duke Power and Electric serves 4 million customers in the Carolinas, and expects massive, long-term outages that will “impact all customers.” Duke’s storm director, Howard Fowler, noted that “the magnitude of the storm is beyond what we have seen in years,” and that “with the storm expected to linger, power restoration work could take weeks instead of days.” The company expressed concern that Hurricane Florence could be even worse than last year’s Hurricane Matthew, which led to power outages for 1.5 million of Duke’s customers. The company noted, however, that it has 20,000 workers ready to begin repairs as soon as it is safe to do so. “We are ready to attack this storm and restoration,” Fowler said.