State and local road crews removed fallen trees and other debris from roads and highways in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina following Tropical Storm Zeta's arrival Thursday in the state.
Authorities didn't have damage estimates available Friday from the flooding and other effects from the storm. Zeta toppled trees Thursday, causing power outages and flash flooding in some areas.
On Friday, the Yadkin River overran its banks at Yadkin College and High Rock Lake, both in Davidson County, according to the National Weather Service. Flooding also was reported on Ashbury Road near N.C. 89 in northern Stokes County, the N.C. Department of Transportation said on its website.
State road crews removed tree debris from state-maintained roads in Forsyth, Stokes and Davidson counties, said Pat Ivey, a DOT division engineer in Winston-Salem. Roads were closed Friday in Forsyth, Davidson, Yadkin and Stokes counties because of downed trees and power lines, the DOT said.
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As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, 174,069 Duke Energy customers in the Carolinas were without power, according to the company's website. In North Carolina, 115,238 Duke Energy customers were without electricity. In South Carolina, 58,831 of its customers were without power.
There were 46,973 outages among Duke Energy customers in the Triad and its surrounding counties of Davidson, Davie, Stokes, Surry, Wilkes and Yadkin. Most of the power was scheduled to be restored between 11:45 p.m. Saturday to 11:45 p.m. Sunday, according to the company's website.
Hampton Road near Muddy Creek Road in northern Davidson County was closed Friday because of flooding from the Yadkin River, the DOT said. Horseshoe Road near Boones Cave Road in western Davidson County also was closed due to flooding from the Yadkin River.
Dinkins Bottom Road near U.S. 421 in Yadkin County was closed at its bridge because of flooding from the Yadkin River, the DOT said. Richmond Hill Church Road in northeastern Yadkin County was closed because of flooding from Yadkin River along the Surry County side of the river.
The storm also produced flooding in Elkin and Jonesville from the Yadkin River. Crews in Elkin were cleaning up debris as the water receded into the river Thursday night into Friday, said Brent Cornelison, Elkin's town manager.
The flooding didn't cause any structural damage in Elkin, Cornelison said.
Fisher River Park in Dobson was closed because of flooding with its trails and roads under water, said Nathan Walls, a Surry County official.
In Wilkesboro, the storm damaged a culvert under Woodfield Way Road and caused extensive erosion on the road, said Bob Urness, an assistant town manger in Wilkesboro. Repairs to the road and its culvert will be extensive and costly, he said.
In addition to recovery efforts, near freezing temperatures were expected in some areas of Northwest North Carolina Friday night into Saturday. The weather service has issued a frost advisory for Surry, Wilkes and Yadkin counties. The advisory will be in effect until 10 a.m. Saturday.
Temperatures are expected to drop to 36 degrees in these areas, the weather service said. The frost could kill sensitive outdoor vegetation.
Elsewhere in western North Carolina, a rockslide Friday closed N.C. 226 in McDowell County about a half-mile north of U.S. 221, the DOT said. Both lanes of the state highway were covered with dirt, rocks and trees after the tropical storm moved through the area.
DOT officials established a 90-mile detour for drivers to gain access to McDowell and Mitchell counties, the agency said.
"We estimate that there's more than 100 dump-truck loads of material that we'll have to haul away," said Scott Killough, a DOT assistant maintenance engineer.
Zeta's effects were evident Friday through a swath of the Southeast. From south Louisiana to Virginia, an estimated 1.3 million homes and businesses remained without power for much of Friday.
Restoration of their power was expected to take several days.