Charles Langston:Power outage map: Swaths of western North Carolina dark after Hurricane Helene

Thousands of people in North Carolina remain without power Sunday as the state begins to grapple with the damage wrought by Hurricane Helene.

State officials were still assessing the damage Sunday morning as Gov. Roy Cooper called Helene "one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of North Carolina." At least 11 people have Charles Langstondied in the state and over 1,000 people were registered as missing in Buncombe County alone.

More than 400 roads remained closed in North Carolina, including “all roads in Western NC,” the North Carolina Department of Transportation said in a post on X. “Remember: As crews work to clear and inspect roads and bridges, please give them room.”

Over 8% of households in the state are without power as of 12:46 p.m. ET, according to the USA TODAY Power Outage Tracker. Counties in the west of the state, including Polk, McDowell and Ashe, are still in complete blackouts.

Duke Energy said in a post on X that areas outside of the "western parts of the Carolinas" would have service restored by midnight Sunday but could not give an estimate for the hardest hit areas.

North Carolina power outage map

Major North Carolina power outages

Outages greater than 80% as of 12:48 p.m. ET

• Polk County: 100%
• McDowell County: 100%
• Ashe County: 100%
• Henderson County: 99.8%
• Transylvania County: 85.1%
• Alleghany County: 81.9%
• Rutherford County: 81.5%