Tree limbs, ice knock out power - LCC to open emergency shelter at 4 p.m.

Progress Energy is equipped for any power outages as a result of ice accumulation throughout the area.

“We actually pulled in crews (Friday) to be on standby to assist as needed,” PE spokeswoman Jessica Lambert said. “We pulled folks from Florida, Georgia and Maryland.”

About 140 PE customers were affected by outages along the British Road in Kinston and Burkett Road in Dover. The estimated time of restoration was noon Saturday.

“We have a workforce of about 1,500 is available to help people as we move through this storm,” Lambert said. “We are continuing to monitor the situation so that we con deploy assistance as needed as these outages occur.”

Kinston Public Services’ Twitter feed reported power outages in the areas of West Road, Nelson Street, Perry Park, Harvey Circle, Cunningham Road, Mina Drive, Patterson Road, North Queen Street, Stockton Road and Darby Avenue as of 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

“Most of the outages are due to tree limbs and ice on lines,” Chris Hill, operations manager for KPS, said. “We have crews out at all of the locations listed on (Twitter).”

Hill said KPS was expecting to have power restored by the end of the day Saturday.

An emergency shelter site will open at Lenoir Community College at 4 p.m. today.

"We have the emergency generator to back things up if all the power goes out," Reed Lovick, director of facilities maintenance at LCC, said.