Power outages in Moore County, North Carolina, continued on Sunday following intentional damage by firearms to two substations left tens of thousands in the dark.
Electricity is shut off to nearly all residents and businesses, with restoration estimates stretching into Thursday.
Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields (Republican), who at a Sunday afternoon press conference called the perpetrators “cowards,” announced a Sunday curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Fields called the attacks “targeted,” noting that “the persons who did this knew exactly what they were doing.” Fields deferred to the judgement of federal officials whether the attack rises to the level of domestic terrorism, and said the “millions of dollars” of damage done to Duke Energy property, charges will have “more teeth, more bite,” and will be “extensive.”
Fields said Sunday that state and federal investigators are looking into protesters of a Saturday drag queen show at Sunrise Theater in downtown Southern Pines, but that so far they have not been able to make that connection.
- A Duke Energy spokesperson said equipment will need to be replaced, causing a multi-day restoration effort.
- Moore Regional Hospital switched to generator power with enough fuel for several days.
- The fire chief said the outage caused several accidents, including a four-vehicle wreck that sent four people to the hospital with minor injuries. The Department of Transportation has since been putting up temporary stop signs to help drivers with navigation.