Crews Work Non-Stop To Restore Power After Wind Storm

Downed power lines and trees were a familiar scene across the Charlotte area and thousands of people are still without power after a wind storm ripped through Sunday night.

VIDEO: High winds level trees, rip power lines across Charlotte

Duke Power officials say 95,000 residents, including 19,600 in Mecklenburg County are without power.

Power crews have been working non-stop since Sunday night to restore power.

Duke Power officials say it may be Wednesday night before all power is restored.

Immediately after the storm, there were more than 230,000 outages across the state.

"We expected a cold front to move through, but we didn't think the winds would be this ferocious," Gaston County Emergency Management Director Jim Pharr said.

In Catawba County, at least two dozen fires broke out after power lines were blown down. In Caldwell County, outages included a stoplight on heavily traveled U.S. 321, where officers directed traffic in the dark. A fire broke out at a church parsonage in Lenoir.

"We had a front move quickly through the region ... and we just held on," said Jerry Boggs, Catawba County's emergency center administrator. "There were no indications that this was going to take place. I don't think anyone in the county was prepared or could have been prepared for what happened."

In addition, at least one fire in the Charlotte area may be blamed on a candle used during power outages Sunday night.

The fire happened around 3 a.m. Monday morning in north Charlotte.

A man said he fell asleep after lighting a candle around 9 p.m. Sunday when his power went out.

SLIDESHOW: High winds snap trees, keep power crews busy