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Jacksonville, Florida – After an attack on the North Carolina power grid, utility companies in Northeast Florida say they are beefing up security around their power grids.
Authorities say one or more people shot at two substations in Moore County, but repairs won’t be completed until later in the week. Officials said the damage required sophisticated repairs and shipping equipment out of the area. Nearly 36,000 customers were without power in the county as of Tuesday, down from a peak of about 45,000, according to poveroutage.us.
Authorities said the outages began Saturday night shortly after 7 p.m. after one or more people broke through the gates of two substations and opened fire. The authorities have not released a motive or stated what kind of firearm was used, and it is still not clear whether it was an act of domestic terrorism. The FBI is assisting in the investigation.
“This was a specific act. The person or persons knew what they were doing and what it took to disable this substation,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said.
The US Department of Homeland Security has updated the bulletin and sent it to utility companies to warn them of attacks on critical infrastructure. The bulletin stated, “Several recent attacks, plots, and threats of violence demonstrate the continued dynamic and complex nature of the threat in the United States.”
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“A disruption like this is just a small example of what can happen on a more, you know, larger scale, and what it does is create chaos and fear, which is what terrorism is designed to do,” said the former FBI agent. Tony Chrabot, who now works with the Risk Confidence Group.
Chrabot tells News4JAKS that power companies are considered stubborn targets. She says the service outage for thousands of people underscores America’s reliance on electricity.
“We rely heavily on the electric grid, don’t we, for so many things — if you turn on a light bulb, if you turn on oxygen, if, you know, now your car,” Chrabot said. “So we rely heavily on, so these should have significant security around them — both physical security on the outside and cyber security for their systems.”
In the Jacksonville area, News4JAKS has learned, local utilities are taking action. They say their teams are on high alert after what happened in central North Carolina.
“We are updating the camera technology at our substations, which are monitored 24/7,” a Clay Electric spokesperson said in a statement. “Maintaining and improving the security of our power grid is a top priority.” In addition to security fences, routine physical inspections are also carried out at all our substations.
A JEA spokesperson said: “JEA is taking a deep approach to protecting our electrical substation. This approach includes a range of security resources and technologies to protect our assets from acts of sabotage or destruction.
A spokesman for Florida Power and Light said his company is in constant contact with law enforcement and is on heightened alert.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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