USA: electricity crisis after shooting at power substation in North Carolina; repair may take days

The US state of North Carolina is staring at an electricity crisis in winter after shootings at two power substations.

Curfew was declared in Moore County, and 40,000 people lost electricity after the shootings on the night of 3 December 2022. Tens of thousands of people may continue to be stranded without electricity as the damage could take many days to repair.

Police are not sure about the motive behind the crime yet. North Carolina Governor said an attack on critical infrastructure is a serious, intentional crime.

Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields on 4 December said that someone pulled up and "opened fire on the substation, the same thing with the other one."

"No group has stepped up to acknowledge or accept that they're the ones that done it," Fields said, adding "we're looking at all avenues." The sheriff noted that the FBI was working with state investigators to determine who was responsible. He also said "it was targeted." "It wasn't random," Fields said.