CARTHAGE, NC (AP) – Two electrical substations in a North Carolina county were damaged by gunfire in what is being investigated as a criminal act, causing damage that could take days to repair and leave dozens of thousands of people without power, authorities said Sunday. .
In response to the ongoing outages, which began shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday across Moore County, officials announced a state of emergency that included a curfew from 9 p.m. from Sunday until 5 in the morning on Monday. In addition, county schools will remain closed on Monday.
“An attack like this on critical infrastructure is a serious and intentional crime and I hope state and federal authorities thoroughly investigate and bring those responsible to justice,” Gov. Roy Cooper wrote on Twitter.
Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said at a news conference Sunday that authorities have not determined a motive. He said someone got up and “opened fire at the substation, same with the other one.”
“No group has stepped forward to acknowledge or accept that they’re the ones who did it,” Fields said, adding that “we’re looking at all avenues.”
The sheriff noted that the FBI was working with state investigators to determine who was responsible. He also said that “it was a target.”
“It wasn’t random,” Fields said.
Fields said law enforcement provides security at substations and businesses overnight.
“We’re going to have people there tonight all day,” Fields said.
About 36,000 electric customers in the county were without power Sunday evening, according to poweroutage.us.
With cold temperatures forecast for Sunday night, the county also opened a shelter at a sports complex in Carthage.
Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks said several pieces of equipment were damaged and will need to be replaced. He said that while the company tries to restore power as quickly as possible, it prepared customers for the potential for outages that last for days.
“We’re looking at a fairly sophisticated repair with a fairly large crew, and so we want the citizens of the city to be prepared for this to be a multi-day restoration for most customers, potentially stretching into Thursday.” Brooks said on the news. conference
Dr. Tim Locklear, the county’s school superintendent, announced that classes will be canceled on Monday.
“As we go forward, we’re going to take it day by day to make those decisions,” Locklear said.
The Pilot newspaper in Southern Pines reported that one of its reporters saw that a door at one of the substations was damaged and lying on an access road.
“A post supporting the door had clearly broken where it meets the ground. The infrastructure of the substation was badly damaged,” reports the newspaper.
The county of roughly 100,000 is an hour’s drive southwest of Raleigh and is known for golf resorts in Pinehurst and other communities.