Mighty winds punch out trees and power: 217,500 Duke Energy customers in dark throughout Carolinas.

Byline: Steve Lyttle and David Perlmutt

Apr. 17--Mighty winds punch out trees and power 217,500 Duke Energy customers in dark throughout Carolinas Strong winds and stronger gusts from a powerful spring storm toppled hundreds of trees onto houses, cars and power lines -- leaving thousands of Carolinians without electricity Monday. The winds -- part of the same system that clobbered the Northeast Monday -- forced some businesses to close and others to operate in the dark. Several Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools lost power and traffic built up at signals that weren't working. In the N.C. mountains, the storm dropped enough snow to close dozens of schools. As of late Monday afternoon, Duke Energy reported…