Duke Energy via AP
In this drone photo released by Duke Energy, flooding from the swollen Cape Fear River overtops an earthen dike at Sutton Lake, a 1,100-acre (445-hectare) lake at the L.V. Sutton Power Station near Wilmington, N.C. , Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018.
A Duke Energy dam containing a lake in North Carolina was breached Friday, possibly causing coal ash to flow into the nearby Cape Fear River, the company said.
Floodwaters were overtop an dike at Sutton Lake, a 1,100-acre reservoir at the L.V. Sutton Power Station. That water caused breaches in the dam on the south end of the lake, which is flowing back into the river, a company Duke Energy spokeswoman told the Associated Press on Friday.
Duke energy shares, which were higher before the news hit, rolled over and were last down about 1.7 percent.
Hurricane Florence caused high winds and rain on the coast of the Carolinas that was measured in feet, followed by rising rivers and standing water in fields this week.
Florence made landfall on Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane in a resort town just east of the state’s eighth-largest city, Wilmington, which has been completely cut off by surrounding floodwaters. At least 18 storm-related deaths have been reported in the region.
President of Duke Energy‘s North Carolina operations David Fountain told CNBC on Monday that the impact from Hurricane Florence has been the most severe he’s ever experienced.
“I’ve lived in North Carolina my entire life, and I’ve seen a lot of bad storms, a lot of bad hurricanes. But this is absolutely the worst,” Fountain said.
Property damage and disruption from Hurricane Florence is expected to total at least $17 billion to $22 billion, but that estimate could end up being on the conservative end, according to Moody’s Analytics.
Fountain, said roughly 300,000 Duke Energy households and businesses remained in the dark as of Monday morning.
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