NC power outages: Massive storms leave more than 100K homes in Triangle area without electricity

More than 100,000 North Carolina residents were left in the dark Tuesday after a series of intense storms wiped out power and temperatures reached new highs. 

Durham County, home to Durham - a city of about 285,000 residents and Duke University - made up nearly half of the outages with roughly 67,000 powerless. 

Neighboring Orange County reported more than 14,000 residents with the lights out Tuesday evening after the thunderstorms hit the area. 

Among the issues facing residents in the Triangle - the area between Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University - were downed tree limbs and an accident on a major highway. 

The storms also came on one of the hottest days in the Tar Heel State as temperatures soared and reached nearly 100 degrees at its peak.  

More than 100,000 North Carolina residents were left in the dark Tuesday after a series of intense storms wiped out power and temperatures reached new highs

Late Tuesday evening, a massive crash on Interstate 40 in Durham shut down the highway during rush hour

Among the issues facing residents in the Triangle - the area between Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University - were downed tree limbs and a major highway crash

Fallen trees and rain slammed the Triangle Tuesday morning and afternoon

Late Tuesday evening, a massive crash on Interstate 40 in Durham shut down the highway during rush hour. 

More than 30 cars were involved in the incident on the highway, officials said. The road was closed for several hours. 

The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of the Triangle. Among the concerns were wind speeds up to 80mph 

Hail around the size of a quarter was also predicted by meteorologists. 

The National Weather Service ultimately extended a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for the Triangle and a Severe Thunderstorm Warning until 9pm Tuesday. 

Aside from Durham and Orange counties, Wake County reported a high number of residents without power, some 12,400. 

Guilford County - located several counties to the east of Durham - also had nearly 20,000 neighbors without power Tuesday evening.  

It's unclear when power will be restored to residents in the area.

The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of the Triangle. Among the concerns were wind speeds up to 80mph

Hail around the size of a quarter was also predicted by meteorologists. Pictured: Storm clouds over a North Carolina airport on Tuesday 

Durham County (red) saw the highest number of outages with more than 67,000 

North Carolina was the epicenter of a recent storm pattern on the East Coast 

The power outages and damage from the storms comes just one week after rainfall in Massachusetts left cars submerged and buildings destroyed.

A tornado touched down in Mattapoisett - around an hour's drive from Boston - on August 7 as the state bore the brunt of the weather moving through the region.

Severe rainfall deluged New England throughout the day, causing travel chaos, flooding roads, and sending officials scrambling - with flood warnings introduced in several states and water rescue teams deployed across the western part of Vermont.

The downpour rolled through just a day after a series of storms battered the East Coast, killing at least two people while leaving almost a million without electricity.