Heavy rains and strong winds have left thousands of people without power across the Upstate and Western North Carolina. As of 12:30 Tuesday afternoon, Duke Energy was reporting that over a 1,000 customers in the Greenville and Easley areas were without power. Duke's outage map also showed that over 800 customers in Spartanburg County were in the dark.
In North Carolina, over a 1,000 people were without power from Kings Mountain to Forest City. Also more than 600 customers in the Asheville area were in the dark. Another 1,000-plus people were out of power in Bryson City, Franklin and Robbinsville in the state's western corner.
In McDowell County Emergency Management officials issued a voluntary evacuation for campers at the Riverbreeze Campground, Tuesday. Rivers around the Upstate and Western North Carolina are surging due to torrential rain.