Hurricane Helene, which initially made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm, has now moved into North Carolina, causing severe flooding and significant damage.

The storm has resulted in at least 43 fatalities across five states, including two deaths in Charlotte due to falling trees.

As of Saturday morning, over 165,000 Duke Energy customers in the Charlotte area were without power, with 45,000 outages reported in Mecklenburg County.

In Buncombe County, the impact was even more pronounced, with 102,000 of Duke Energy's 149,000 customers experiencing power outages.

Power outages peaked on Friday when 125,000 Duke customers lost electricity as the storm swept through the region.

Duke Energy has indicated that power restoration in Mecklenburg County could take until noon on Monday, although overnight efforts have reduced outages from 90,000 to approximately 45,000.

The utility company expects to restore power to nearly all affected customers by Sunday night as crews continue to address the damage.

In the Cincinnati area, thousands remain without electricity, with the largest outages reported in North College Hill and Warren County due to damaged power lines.

As of 10 a.m. on Sunday, Duke Energy reported 21,490 customers without power in the Cincinnati area, primarily on the Ohio side of the river.

EnergyUnited has restored power to 20,000 of its customers, but 10,000 are still without electricity, while Duke Energy's restoration timelines extend into Monday and Tuesday.

Emergency management officials have warned that floodwaters will continue to rise, even without additional rain, as water is being moved from Lake Norman to Lake Wylie.

Rising water levels have been reported at Mountain Island Lake following the opening of floodgates at Cowan’s Ford Dam, with further flooding expected in Lake Wylie and the Catawba River.