Two energy substations in a North Carolina county have been broken by gunfire in what’s being investigated as a prison act, inflicting injury that might take days to restore and leaving tens of hundreds of individuals with out electrical energy, authorities stated Sunday.

In response to ongoing outages, which started simply after 7 p.m. Saturday throughout Moore County, officers introduced a state of emergency that included a curfew from 9 p.m. Sunday to five a.m. Monday. Also, county faculties can be closed Monday.

“An attack like this on critical infrastructure is a serious, intentional crime and I expect state and federal authorities to thoroughly investigate and bring those responsible to justice,” Gov. Roy Cooper wrote on Twitter.

Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields stated at a Sunday information convention that authorities haven’t decided a motivation. He stated somebody 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 stated, including “we’re looking at all avenues.”

The sheriff famous that the FBI was working with state investigators to find out who was accountable. He additionally stated “it was targeted.”

“It wasn’t random,” Fields stated.

Fields stated legislation enforcement is offering safety on the substations and for companies in a single day.

“We will have folks out there tonight around the clock,” Fields stated.

Roughly 37,000 electrical prospects within the county have been with out energy on Sunday night, in accordance with poweroutage.us.

With chilly temperatures forecast for Sunday evening, the county additionally opened a shelter at a sports activities complicated in Carthage.

Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks stated a number of items of apparatus have been broken and should get replaced. He stated whereas the corporate is making an attempt to revive energy as rapidly as doable, he braced prospects for the potential of outages lasting days.

“We are looking at a pretty sophisticated repair with some fairly large equipment and so we do want citizens of the town to be prepared that this will be a multiday restoration for most customers, extending potentially as long as Thursday,” Brooks said at the news conference.

Dr. Tim Locklear, the county’s school superintendent, announced classes will be canceled Monday.

“As we move forward, we’ll be taking it day by day in making those decisions,” Locklear stated.

The Pilot newspaper in Southern Pines reported that one in every of its journalists noticed a gate to one of many substations had been broken and was mendacity in an entry street.

“A pole holding up the gate had clearly been snapped off where it meets the ground. The substation’s infrastructure was heavily damaged,” the newspaper reported.

The county of roughly 100,000 individuals lies about an hour’s drive southwest of Raleigh and is thought for golf resorts in Pinehurst and different communities.