Severe storms moved through the Greater Hickory Metro this afternoon (August 7). At approximately 5 p.m. today a line of thunderstorms covered a large portion of western North Carolina and resulted in damage and power outages.

Damage occurred in many parts of the region, including at the Alexander County Fairgrounds in Taylorsville. The city of Newton also reported several downed trees.

Duke Energy reported more than 20,000 outages overall in the Hickory Metro, including over 2,000 in Hickory. There were more than 15,000 outages reported in Catawba County, close to 3,000 in Caldwell County, just over 2,000 in Burke County, and approximately 1,300 in Alexander County. There were still power outages across the area as of this morning (August 8). Duke Energy’s update late this morning stated that most outages would be restored by the end of today and all storm related outages should be restored by the end of the day Wednesday (August 9).

[Photos of damage in Newton courtesy of Daniel Kaylor, photo of damage to Alexander County Fairgrounds contributed to WHKY by Cynthia Herndon]