Power Outages in McDowell County, NC
As of July 18, 2026 19:06 UTC, about 733 customers are without power in McDowell County, NC across 2 reported incidents. In 2025, the average customer here lost power for about 10.0 hours.
McDowell County, NC is served by 2 tracked utilities.
- RUTHERFORD ELEC MEMBER CORP
- Duke Energy
Out for under 1 hr; outages this size here usually clear within about ~7 hours.
Historical average from 254 past outages here — an estimate, not a utility ETA. How long do outages usually last?
No active NWS alerts for McDowell County right now.
McDowell County has been under 10 National Weather Service alerts recently — most recently a Severe Thunderstorm Warning on July 18, 2026.
- Special Weather Statement ×4
- Flood Advisory ×2
- Flood Watch ×2
- Severe Thunderstorm Warning ×2
Latest McDowell County, NC outage updates
A running log of how this outage has changed — updated automatically as utilities report in.
- OUTAGE BEGAN
Outage began — 733 customers out (5.9% of the county)
Hardest-hit cities in McDowell County
Where this event is concentrated across the county's towns and townships.
Live outage counts are tracked at the county level; a city-by-city split within McDowell Countyisn't available yet.
Historical reliability
In 2025, the average customer in McDowell County went about 10.0 hours without power. Peak simultaneous outage on record reached 43,021 customers.
Worst year here was 2024 (peak 43,021 customers out) · decade average 43.7 hrs without power per customer/yr.
| Year | Outage events | Peak customers out | Avg hrs/customer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 447 | 3,751 | 3.9 |
| 2016 | 481 | 3,341 | 8.1 |
| 2017 | 459 | 2,946 | 18.7 |
| 2018 | 563 | 1,671 | 14.7 |
| 2019 | 585 | 2,530 | 13.6 |
| 2020 | 551 | 3,028 | 10.2 |
| 2021 | 586 | 14,647 | 12.8 |
| 2022 | 621 | 2,377 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 507 | 2,662 | 8.6 |
| 2024 | 544 | 43,021 | 372.6 |
| 2025 | 648 | 2,048 | 10.0 |
Relatively High ice storms exposure · 43.7 hrs/yr of outages over the last decade.
FEMA rates this county’s social vulnerability relatively high — outages hit harder where communities are less able to respond and recover.
All hazard rankings →Power outages in McDowell County: FAQ
- How often does McDowell County, NC lose power?
- Based on EAGLE-I records, McDowell County, NC logged 648 distinct outage events in 2025, averaging about 10.0 hours without power per customer over the year.
- What was the worst power outage in McDowell County, NC?
- The largest tracked outage peaked at 43,021 customers without power, beginning September 25, 2024 and lasting about 35d 19h.
- Is there a power outage in McDowell County, NC right now?
- Yes — about 733 customers are currently without power across 2 reported incident(s).
- Which utilities serve McDowell County, NC?
- Tracked electric providers include Duke Energy, RUTHERFORD ELEC MEMBER CORP.
Outages are tracked at the county level; these ZIP codes fall within McDowell County.
28749, 28752, 28761, 28762
Electric providers serving this county
From EIA-861 service territory, with official reliability where reported.
| Provider | Official SAIDI (EIA) | Live | Report outage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duke Energy | — | ODIN ✓ | — |
| RUTHERFORD ELEC MEMBER CORP | — | ODIN ✓ | — |
Machine-readable data: /api/v1/counties/37111 and /api/v1/counties/37111/history. Historical figures derive from the DOE/ORNL EAGLE-I dataset (EAGLE-I tracked roughly 0% of North Carolina customers). Live data as of .