A power outage in Chapel Hill caused several Franklin Street businesses to close or operate without power Sunday afternoon.
According to Duke Energy’s website, the power outage was caused by a fallen tree that damaged equipment. It was first reported at 11:41 a.m. and returned around 2 p.m.
Carolina Coffee Shop general manager Jeremy Ferry said they decided to close about 45 minutes after the initial outage. He said the decision to close negatively affected business.
“Most customers made light of it, except for those trying to pay or who had somewhere to be,” Ferry said. “We had to take down handwritten credit card information, accept checks and we had to handwrite bills calculating tax, which was difficult.”
Power remained on at West Franklin businesses. Ben & Jerry’s and Lotsa Pizza reported seeing their lights flickered, but no outage occurred.
The power outage affected more than local businesses. Sorority rush was postponed for several hours.
“Honestly at this point we shouldn’t be surprised that there’s so many things happening that have been postponing rush,” said sophomore Stella Shon, who is participating in rush. “We should have expected that something else would happen. We’re trying to stay positive, but it is very stressful.”
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