A rather frightening news story is making the rounds this weekend, as tens of thousands of North Carolinians are currently in the dark.
In Moore County, a number of electrical substations came under fire from as-of-yet-unknown individuals in what appears to have been a coordinated attack on the power grid.
Over 40,000 Moore County, North Carolina residents were powerless on Sunday afternoon after two substations were taken out by gunfire on Saturday night, according to police.
Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said in a Facebook post on Saturday that just after 7 p.m. on that night, several communities across the county began to experience power outages.
Duke Energy, which operates the power grid in the county, responded to at least two different substations and there was evidence of intentional vandalism at both, Fields said.
The region had never experienced something like this before.
“We faced something last night here in Moore County we have never faced before,” Fields said during a Facebook Live press conference on Sunday afternoon.
Given the amount of damage at the substation, there would be no easy solution. Power company officials believed that it could take until Thursday or longer to restore power to those affected by the unprecedented act.
Local authorities have opened the Moore County Sports Complex as a shelter for those in need to assistance during this trying time.
Police have not yet identified any suspects in the case, and have addressed some of the rumors that have sprung up in the wake of the incident – including a conspiracy theory floating around on Twitter that this was the work of right-wing “domestic terrorists” who were attempting to cut power to a charity drag show in the affected area. Police, however, do not have a motive at this time.
