Buncombe County -- July 28, 2026: Intense summer storms swept across Western North Carolina on Tuesday evening, July 28, triggering widespread blackouts and leaving thousands of local residents in the dark.
According to regional utility updates as of 7:50 p.m., Duke Energy is managing 604 active outages affecting 29,381 customers overall, with the heaviest concentration situated right in Buncombe County.
Key Impact Areas in Buncombe County
Approximately 14,000 local households and businesses are currently without electricity in the greater Asheville vicinity. Service disruptions are most heavily concentrated across the following communities and corridors:
North Asheville and Weaverville
Alexander and Leicester
Biltmore Village and the Oakley neighborhood
Tunnel Road and Cane Creek Road areas
Regional Outages and Storm Response
Neighboring mountain towns are also managing localized power losses, including roughly 1,000 outages in Waynesville, 400 in the Franklin area, and 300 near both Cashiers and Bryson City.
The earlier tornado warning for Buncombe County expired at 7:00 p.m. Local officials confirmed that emergency management personnel and fire marshals are carrying out initial damage assessments. No major structural destruction or severe injuries have been reported at this time.
Safety Reminders and Outage Reporting
With repair crews actively working to clear fallen debris and restore line connections, local authorities advise residents to keep the following precautions in mind:
Dark Intersections: Always treat any non-operational traffic signal as a four-way stop.
Downed Lines: Assume all fallen power lines are energized and dangerous. Maintain a safe distance and report hazards to emergency services immediately.
Track Outages Live: View real-time restoration progress and neighborhood status updates on the Duke Energy Interactive Outage Map.
Report Outages Directly: Report service disruptions through the Duke Energy Outage Center, text OUT to 57801, or call 1-800-419-6356.