A massive and alarming power outage Saturday night adjacent to Fort Bragg and the U.S. Special Forces Command is being investigated as an act of “intentional vandalism.”
The sweeping power failure is being probed by Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields and his department. Roughly 45,000 people were without power overnight Saturday, and several accidents are blamed on the outage.
In a statement, Fields said the disruptions began around 7 p.m. Saturday evening. As companies began searching for the causes, they discovered evidence at multiple substations that the emergency situation was intentional.”
He also reported that site security is being beefed up at several critical locations in the area’s infrastructure.
Moore County is next to Fort Bragg, which is the home of the 82nd Airborne as well as Special Forces Command. Thousands of active military personnel, including Special Forces members, live in the county.
Authorities were investigating widespread power outages in south-central North Carolina overnight as intentional criminal acts, the Moore County sheriff says. https://t.co/KA9zM9lVzY
— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 4, 2022
The area’s power infrastructure came under attack Saturday night in an effective demonstration of someone’s apparent intention to disrupt the area. Jeff Brooks, a spokesperson for utility company Duke Energy, agreed with Moore as to the likely cause.
And while most widespread electrical issues in North Carolina are fixed within an hour, this disturbing incident was not so quickly resolved. Brooks reported that with multiple affected substations, “until we understand the scope of the damage, we can’t yet estimate when power will be restored.”
He described the utility’s work as complicated due to the sheer number of facilities affected.
Sewer lift stations were also rendered inoperable by the apparent criminal act.
In a bizarre and possibly parallel incident, a local TV station reported that police descended on an area Walmart due to unconfirmed reports of looting there as well as a local gun store. Police told the store’s employees that it was not safe to remain there.
At least one liberal writer, Charlotte Clymer, threw blame at right-wingers because of a drag show being performed locally. She claimed that three electrical substations were “shot up with firearms simultaneously” due to the event.
Police then reportedly visited the home of a conservative woman who posted that “God will not be mocked” by the show. Law enforcement is still investigating the infrastructure attack and the motivations of the perpetrators.
