North Carolina - State of Emergency declared, FBI investigating power grid attack in Moore County, sheriff says

[Mary Wilson]

December 04, 2022 at 7:43 pm EST
By WSOCTV.com News Staff

MOORE COUNTY, N.C. — A state of emergency has been declared after the electrical power grid was “intentionally attacked” causing a major power outage in Moore County.

The Moore County Sheriff’s Office confirmed those details in a news conference Sunday evening.

More than 34,000 people in Moore County are still without power. The outages began just after 8 p.m. Saturday night across communities in the area, according to Sheriff Ronnie Fields.

Sheriff Fields said firearms were used to shoot and disable equipment at two substations in Moore County.

Power could be out until Thursday, according to the sheriff’s office and Duke Energy officials. Duke officials added that the repairs will need to be sophisticated due to how damaged the substations were.

In the news conference, deputies said the FBI is assisting with the investigation, as well as the state Bureau of Investigation.

“The NC Department of Public Safety is working with our local and federal law enforcement partners and will provide the appropriate state resources needed to assist in this investigation,” NCDPS Secretary Eddie M. Buffaloe, Jr. said.

When asked whether this was domestic terrorism, Sheriff Fields said he couldn’t say whether this was domestic terrorism or not, saying he would leave that for the feds to determine. But he added it was absolutely intentional and the perpetrators knew what they were doing.

... Deputies also announced that a curfew has been set for Moore County. It begins at 9 p.m. and will continue until 5 a.m.

... The Moore County Sports Complex on Hillcrest Park will be used as a shelter. Schools in Moore County will be closed Monday, according to the sheriff’s office.

“North Carolina Emergency Management is working with local and state agencies to provide the needed resources for the safety of Moore County residents impacted by the power outage,” said Will Ray, Director of North Carolina Emergency Management. ...

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/i...riffs-office-says/SNCENVLP5NH5VCBOEI4G2G5CZY/

 

[Mary Wilson]

North Carolina county under curfew after power station attack, FBI investigating

December 5, 2022 1:35 AM UTC
By Rich Mckay and Sharon Bernstein

Dec 4 (Reuters) - Residents of a central North Carolina county faced a second night of freezing weather without power on Sunday after vandals opened fire on two electric substations in what authorities called a "targeted attack."

A motive for the Saturday night damage spree wasn't clear, said Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields. Due to outages, schools will be closed Monday and potentially longer. Sunday church services and a well-known golf resort were disrupted.

... The lights went dark at about 7 p.m. Saturday for 40,000 homes and businesses in Moore County. It was "a targeted attack. It wasn't random," Fields said. Utility workers found gates broken and evidence of gunfire damage to equipment.

The outages could stretch through Thursday, said Jeff Brooks, spokesperson for Duke Energy, because of the extent of the damage. ...

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/suspected-vandals-leave-thousands-dark-north-carolina-2022-12-04/

 

[Mary Wilson]

Andrew Wilkins
@A_Wilkins_
Hello, I’m here in Moore County where the attack on substations happened and we don’t have power. It’s obviously an upsetting and disturbing criminal act. Here’s a list of impacts on the community I’m aware of so far, beyond losing power:
9:44 AM · Dec 4, 2022


Andrew Wilkins@A_Wilkins_·10h

Cell phone signal has been heavily disrupted and some providers, such as Verizon, are completely down in some parts of the county.


Andrew Wilkins@A_Wilkins_·10h
Many rural residents get water from wells, and the pumps are down. We will slowly lose water pressure until we lose water altogether so are using reserve water we set aside for essentials and filling up buckets of water from the pond to fill toilet reservoirs to flush them.


Andrew Wilkins@A_Wilkins_·10h
Local pharmacies are moving critical meds to people’s homes with generators and refrigerator space.


Andrew Wilkins@A_Wilkins_·10h
Police are being called in from across the state to help manage intersections, and I assume to assist with normal emergency services in general while power is out.


Andrew Wilkins@A_Wilkins_·10h
Projected problems: spoiling of food in grocery stores, restaurants, and most critically people’s homes. Looting has already happened at a local Walmart. Schools will probably be canceled tomorrow.


Andrew Wilkins@A_Wilkins_·10h
Cell network being down means it took two hours to send this. ...

https://twitter.com/A_Wilkins_/status/1599429343670771712

 

[Mary Wilson]

Emergency Declared and Curfew Ordered Following Moore Power Grid Attack
Dec 3, 2022 Updated 5 hrs ago
Staff Report
...

7:30 p.m. Sunday:
The Village of Pinehurst and the Town of Aberdeen announced the closure of multiple buildings and services for Mon. Dec. 5.

The Pinehurst Fire Station 91, located at 405 Magnolia Road will be open to the public to charge electronic devices between Monday and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

All town non-essential buildings will be closed in Aberdeen, including Parks and Recreation, Town Hall, Finance and Planning.

5:50 p.m. Sunday:
Moore County Transportation Services will be available to take clients scheduled for dialysis, chemotherapy and radiation treatments only. All other Moore County operations are cancelled for Monday, with plans for limited coverage Tuesday. ...

2 p.m. Sunday
Working at the Eastwood power substation off Daubs Chapel Road, Aubin Reynolds, a system planning engineer with Randolph Electric Membership Corp., said that whoever attacked the power stations was familiar with the the power company and how the stations were all connected to each other.

Reynolds said the West End power substation, which was heavily damaged, is a transmission substation, which sends power down the line to smaller substations. Hitting that site hard would have a cascading effect of damage, Reynolds said. ...

7 a.m. Sunday:
The gate to the West End substation, off N.C. 211 near West Pine Middle School, is lying on the side of the access road. A pole holding up the gate had clearly been snapped off where it meets the ground. The substation’s infrastructure was heavily damaged, but workers on site declined to comment on the extent. ...

Midnight Saturday:
A reporter on scene at the Duke Energy substation off N.C. 211 near West Pine Middle School could hear and smell oil leaking from the facility. Workers from Duke Energy and authorities from the sheriff‘s office were scanning the the area for bullet casings and other evidence, and vehicles were going through the woods in search of more evidence at the scene. ...

11:48 p.m. Saturday:
The Moore County Sheriff’s Office has released a statement saying that it is investigating incidents at multiple electric substations in Moore County that were shot up on Saturday night as a “criminal occurrence,” causing more than half the county’s electric customers to lose power.

According to the press release, shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday, “as utility companies began responding to the different substations, evidence was discovered that indicated that intentional vandalism had occurred at multiple sites.“ ...

10 p.m. Saturday:
At 9:42 p.m., emergency scanner traffic reported several explosions heard in Carthage. ...

https://www.thepilot.com/news/ongoi...cle_b3b19780-7370-11ed-865d-c78d0de5d921.html