Local

Power restored to nearly 7,000 customers in uptown, South End

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Duke Energy restored power at 6:15 p.m. to nearly 7,000 customers in uptown Charlotte and South End Thursday afternoon.

According to the company's map, the outage stretched from West 4th Street down past Ideal Way.

The problem was initially reported around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, which impacted 6,739 customers.

Harris Teeter along South Boulevard had to turn people away because the whole shopping center is without power.

A couple of traffic lights were out during rush hour.

Duke said the outage was caused by an equipment failure along its power lines.

A spokesperson said in a statement, "We recognize this is a busy part of Charlotte at a busy time of day, and are working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible."