Carolinas Lose Power as Hurricane Irene Hits Land

According to the National Hurricane Center:

The eye of Irene made landfall near Cape Lookout, North Carolina around 7:30 AM EDT

The residents of North Carolina won't need me to remind them of that fact even if they are able to read my words, since large numbers of them are currently without mains electricity.  Here's a snapshot of the online outage map provided to their customers in the Carolinas by Progress Energy:

North Carolina Power Outage Map at 09:00 on Saturday August 27th 2011

As you can see, the worst affected area is currently Pamlico County, with 97.76% of PE customers without electricity. In numerical terms, rather than percentages, next door neighbour Carteret County is worst affected, with 15710 out of a total of 24087 Progress Energy customers without power.

Online Power Outage Maps

Pepco – Washington D.C.

Long Island Power – Long Island

Con Edison – New York City

First Energy – New Jersey

Atlantic City Electric – New Jersey

Delmarva Power – Maryland

Dominion Electric – Virginia

Progress Energy – North Carolina