More than 45,000 households in southcentral North Carolina are without power after two electrical substations were disabled when someone fired multiweapon bullets into it, NBC News reports.  Utility officials said power for those customers may not be restored until Thursday.

The power outage has impacted traffic and street light operations in Moore County, prompting officials to warn drivers and suggest people stay off the roads. Sewage pumping station operations have also been impacted.

“Unlike perhaps a storm where you can go in and reroute power somewhere else, that was not an option in this case,” a spokesperson for Duke Energy said Sunday. “Recognizing that, we are looking at a pretty sophisticated repair with some fairly large equipment and so we do want citizens of the town to be prepared that this will be a multi-day restoration for most customers extending potentially as long as Thursday.”

According to the Fayetteville Observer, Sheriff Ronnie Fields said a second substation was attacked about an hour after the first, which spread the outage from a smaller area to impacting most of the county.  Police are investigating the incident as criminal behavior, and have not identified a suspect or motive; a reporter asked Fields if he believed the attack was due to a Saturday night drag show in the Southern Pines community that has drawn negative attention from some MAGA conservative activists.