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Widespread power outage closes most schools across Avery County

AVERY COUNTY, N.C. — A large power outage has forced officials in Avery County to close all but one school in the district Thursday morning.

The school district posted on Facebook around 8:30 a.m. that Newland Elementary School would be releasing at 8:45 a.m. and Avery Middle School would release at 9 a.m.

All other schools in the district would be releasing at 9:15 a.m.

Riverside Elementary School will remain open because the school was not affected by the outage, according to officials.

According to Mountain Electric, the power outage is impacting 14,000 customers.

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