Sept. 13. By Dave Yochum. UPDATE 3 PM. Finding gas was hit or miss in Cornelius at 7 am. Cashion’s Quik Stop on Catawba at Hwy 21. was out, as was the BP at 21 and Westmoreland. But gasoline was flowing just fine thank you at the Palm Exxon on W. Catawba as well as at the Kangaroo Express across from Starbucks.
MUKUND SHAH: NOT SURE WHEN GASOLINE WILL ARRIVE AT BP
But last night both were out of gas while Cashion’s was flowing. Gas station operators say they don’t know precisely when the big fuel trucks will arrive.
It’s all because of Hurricane Florence, which looks like one of the biggest weather events the North Carolina coast has seen in decades.
Coastal damage could be extensive, even though Florence is now a Category 2 storm.
“The magnitude of the storm is beyond what we have seen in years,” said Howard Fowler, Duke Energy’s incident commander. “With the storm expected to linger, power restoration work could take weeks instead of days.”
Here, it’s a different story, although it’s all hands on deck as we host coastal evacuees and hunker down for rain and wind starting this weekend.
Cornelius Town Manager Andrew Grant said Cornelius is ready. Staff meetings have focused on keeping roads passable for emergency vehicles.
“We’re mindful of the storm track,” Grant said. Town staffers are ready to spend nights at fire stations so they can take on a downed tree when and where it happens.
BREAD SHELF 7:30 AM AT PUBLIX
The town is coordinating with ElectriCities in case trees fall on power lines.
Duke Energy meteorologists are estimating power outages in the Carolinas could be between 1-3 million customers.
Cornelius Police are warning boaters to stay off Lake Norman. The lake patrol unit will be on delayed response for the sake of officers’ safety.
“Lake Norman is a very dangerous place during local storms, let alone a storm having tropical force winds and there is no reason to be out there. Doing so will risk the lives of rescue personnel. During the peak winds of the storm, the lake unit will be on a delayed response,” they said.
Bread was almost sold out early this morning at Publix, one sign some of us are profoundly prepared for a weather event that will likely consist of rain and wind that we can manage through.
“We have plenty of water,” one employee said.
