Duke Energy Corporation

Journeyman lineworker Tyler Manick says it best. #Helene

To aid with recovery from #Helene, the Duke Energy Foundation announced a $1 million commitment to nonprofits providing vital assistance to affected communities across the Southeast. Funding will aid a variety of organizations providing food, shelter and other urgent needs, ensuring that relief efforts reach those who need it most. The Foundation will continue making donations for evolving needs as communities recover and nonprofits stand up their short- and long-term efforts. This additional funding builds on the Foundation’s work ahead of the storm and year-round commitment to preparedness and resiliency. Annually, the Duke Energy Foundation provides more than $30 million in philanthropic support to meet the needs of the communities where we live and work.

Historic is a word that is reserved for those events people will talk about for decades to come. This past week Hurricane Helene struck our entire Duke Energy service territory with historic impact. Never have we had a storm hit all 6 of our states, never have we had over 3M customer outages, never have we seen the damage in Upstate SC to this extent, never have we experienced storm surge at the levels we saw on the west coast of Florida, never have we seen lake levels rise this high, and never have we seen such devasting floods in my home town of Asheville, NC and across the mountains of NC. My heart goes out to all the citizens and communities across the southeast, some of whom lost everything. Events like this test us all, but also brings us all together to help each other. So many stories of ordinary people doing heroic things to help friends, family members and strangers. This spirit of helping each other and rebuilding together is what makes our country great. I am so proud of the 27,000 teammates at Duke Energy and over 15,000 utility partners from across the US and Canada, who have stepped up to execute a historic response. So far, we have restored power to over 2.3M customers and our plans are to have the majority of all customers impacted that can receive power back by Friday. This won't be an easy task, as the areas we are working in have significant damage and in some cases will require a rebuild of our infrastructure. In upstate SC alone we estimate replacing 6000 poles. In the mountains of western NC, flooding has made access difficult and also wiped-out parts of our infrastructure. Our team understands the role power plays in helping our communities begin the long road to recovery and will not stop until everyone has been restored. I thank our customers for their patience, and I thank our State and Federal partners for all the support and assistance. We are in this together and together we will complete a historic recovery from this historic event.

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, our thoughts are with the communities devastated by this powerful storm. I want to commend our dedicated teams who continue to work tirelessly to restore power and ensure safety. Our commitment to our customers goes beyond service; it’s about supporting our communities in their recovery. Together, we will rebuild and emerge stronger.

Our response to #Helene’s catastrophic damage continues, with a lot of hard work behind us and a lot of hard work ahead. The selfless way our team has shown up for our customers is inspiring and, at times – like the devastation in some parts of our territory – even overwhelming. In Asheville, for example, one lineworker lost his own home to flash flooding – and then, once his family was safe, reported to work. There will be time to share those stories, but for now, our focus remains on our customers. After days of around the clock work by tens of thousands of personnel – including crews brought in from 19 states and Canada – we’ve made strong progress in much of our footprint. However, substantial infrastructure damage from high winds and record flooding, along with adverse road conditions and other challenges, have impeded progress in the western mountain areas of North Carolina and the Upstate of South Carolina. Our work in those areas continues thanks to the tireless commitment of our crews.

With record rainfall and flooding from #Helene in the Carolinas this week, we’ve seen increased interest in our hydropower operations. Our hydroelectric and dam operations are operating as expected. We manage our lakes and dams as an integrated system – water management in one lake can impact the others. In anticipation of #Helene, we began moving water downstream to make room for rainfall in upper reservoirs. We do this by moving water through our generating units and operating our dam spillways or gates. Duke Energy representative Jeff Brooks was on site at Cowans Ford Dam this morning to help explain how it works. We provide current lake levels, here: http://spr.ly/6045ofNy9

The impact #Helene has wrought on the communities we serve is catastrophic. Thousands of our crew members from across the country, along with contingent from Canada, are assessing damage and repairing equipment where it is safe to do so. Even if you don’t see our trucks, we’re still working. We are grateful for all our employees who step into their storm roles eager to respond during emergencies. We will continue to share restoration updates and other resources at http://spr.ly/6044ofq6o. 📍 Flood conditions in Asheville, NC, captured by drones inspecting equipment damage.

#Helene is on the way and our team is hard at work. Nearly 18,000 Duke Energy lineworkers and support workers across Florida and the Carolinas will be ready to assess damage and restore power as soon as it's safe to do so. We continue to share tips with our customers for how to get ready and stay safe. And, we’ll be updating everyone as our efforts continue at http://spr.ly/6041oxLc1. 📍Staging site at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Is it the hair? Or is it the stare? Either way, it’s former Duke Energy employee Bill Smith. Thanks to illumination reader Cameron Allen for helping us identify Smith in our latest retro blog. “[Smith] was a meter reader back then and later got into marketing. He retired a few years ago.” See more Duke Energy history you've recently helped us uncover: http://spr.ly/6040onUfY

With help from Duke Energy and other corporate sponsors, E2D - Eliminate the Digital Divide has distributed at least 48,000 computers to students in need of a device. A recent Duke Energy pledge will send more than 16,000 laptops over three years to 10 historically Black colleges and universities across North Carolina. Last week, volunteers handed out laptops to 225 first year and transfer students at Johnson C. Smith University. Read more on how this program is working to bridge the digital divide. http://spr.ly/6042o85Ti