Duke had, earlier on Sunday, confirmed that the initial water tests on the Sutton Plant in Wilmington showed little impact in the water quality at Cape Fear River. The river water levels near the site have started to recede, but the company still expects the level to be high for days.
Duke is, meanwhile, focusing on repair plans to conserve the water in the Sutton Lake, while the inspection is underway at the natural gas plant.
The hurricane has hit its operations worst at North Carolina, President David Fountain told CNBC. Numerous power outages happened in various North Carolina cities and Duke believes Jacksonville, Morehead City, and New Bern will likely face power cuts till Monday.
Moody’s Analytics has estimated property damages and disruption to be at the moderate end of $17 billion to $22 billion range. Late last week, Duke said power-cuts have impacted nearly 49,000 homes and businesses.
The floodwaters have also hindered Duke Energy’s 625-megawatt natural gas plant, which remained shut and caused a coal ash landfill to collapse partially.
Duke shares opened lower on Friday and inched down 2.58% in the afternoon after the news broke out. The stock ended Friday’s regular session down 0.99% at $79.82 on the NYSE. It has fallen 4.15% so far this year. At the premarket session on Monday, Duke stock is neutral.