storms

Severe storms that swept across the area Wednesday and overnight are blamed for one death in Gaston County and tens of thousands remain without power Thursday morning. Officials in Gaston County have declared a state of emergency.

Duke Energy customers in North Carolina will see a new charge on their bills starting this month to pay for cleanups and repairs after major storms in 2018 and 2019.

The rapidly expanding storm struck Western Cuba and is expected to hit Louisiana on Sunday as a major hurricane.

A weakened but resilient Tropical Storm Elsa drenched northern Florida and southern Georgia with heavy rain Wednesday, killing at least one person near the state line and threatening to maintain tropical storm intensity until it reaches New England.

The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Elsa is strengthening and could became a hurricane before making landfall along Florida’s northern Gulf coast. The storm has already complicated the search for survivors in the collapse of a Miami-area condominium 12 days ago.

Thunderstorms and high winds on the east side of the storm battered the Florida Panhandle and much of Alabama on Saturday, as the weather system moved toward the North Carolina coast.