Crews make progress to restore power

(LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C.) SMOKIES.LIVE – A couple thousand people across the area were without power on Sunday morning.

Crews with KUB, Sevier County Electric and Duke energy have made progress to restore power to those areas.

A 1 p.m. KUB was reporting under 1,000 without power, Duke Energy had a few hundred in Haywood County, and Sevier County Electric had a handful without power in Townsend.

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At 8 a.m. more than 500 people were with out power in Townsend as reported by the Sevier County Electric System.

In Tennessee, the Knoxville Utilities Board reported nearly 2,000 people without power at 6 a.m. In North Carolina, the Lake Junaluska area had several hundred people without power.

Crews are out working on the damaged lines and trying to get them repaired.

With a winter storm forecasted for East Tennessee this weekend, KUB had more than 80 crews and dozens of storm response support employees ready to respond to potential outages.

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Duke Energy reports 22 homes are without power after trees fell on lines near Lake Junaluska. The power company estimates the power will be restored by 8:15 p.m. Saturday.