SHREVEPORT, La. (March 31, 2022) – Southwestern Electric Power Company crews continue to work safely and quickly to restore service to the approximately 2,000 customers who remain without power following Wednesday’s severe storms.

The storm system caused major damage in Central Louisiana and Northwest Arkansas, where an EF-3 tornado tore through parts of the area.

SWEPCO crews continue to repair poles, crossarms, downed wire and transformers. Significant progress has been made in Louisiana, and estimated times of restoration for Mansfield, Natchitoches and Hornbeck areas have been updated to 5 p.m. today.

In Northwest Arkansas, the storm system caused major damage to the cities of Johnson, Springdale and parts of Fayetteville, and crews are working safely and quickly to make repairs. The storm took down 38 utility poles and their power lines, broke crossarms and damaged multiple transformers. As of 2:30 p.m. Thursday, approximately 945 Northwest Arkansas customers remained without power, with a majority in Springdale. At peak, approximately 9,000 customers in Northwest Arkansas were without power between 5 and 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Storm damage also occurred near the Springdale Municipal Airport, where crews continue to focus a majority of their work to safely and quickly restore power.

Estimated times of restoration to 95% of customers in these Northwest Arkansas areas are:

South Springdale, area around the Springdale Country Club: 8 p.m. Thursday, March 31

Van Asche, area around Johnson: 8 p.m. Thursday, March 31

Osburn, Highway 265 near Northwest Technical Institute: 8 p.m. Friday, April 1

South Springdale, the area between Springdale Airport and west to Turner Street: 8 p.m. Friday, April 1

SAFETY:

DOWNED POWER LINES: Never touch a downed utility wire, no matter how harmless it looks. It can be difficult to distinguish between a power line and a cable or telephone line.

PORTABLE GENERATORS: If you use a portable or RV generator, do not plug the generator into your circuit box. Portable generators "backfeed" electricity up the line and risk the lives of repair workers and the public. Follow the manufacturers’ instructions carefully, and plug essential appliances directly into the generator.

OUTAGE INFORMATION:

SWEPCO Mobile App – Report outages, check outage status, and more. Download from the App Store or Google Play.

SWEPCO Alerts – Get an email or text message with the latest info for your home or business. See SWEPCO.com/Alerts.

SWEPCO.com – Outage map, report outages, safety information.

About Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO)

SWEPCO, an American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP) company, serves more than 543,000 customers in Northwest and Central Louisiana, Northeast Texas and the Texas Panhandle, and Western Arkansas. SWEPCO’s headquarters are in Shreveport, La. News releases and other information about SWEPCO can be found at SWEPCO.com. Connect with us at Facebook.com/SWEPCO, Twitter.com/SWEPCOnews, Instagram.com/swepco, Youtube.com/SWEPCOtv and LinkedIn.com/company/swepco.

About American Electric Power (AEP)

American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is powering a cleaner, brighter energy future for its customers and communities. AEP’s approximately 16,700 employees operate and maintain the nation’s largest electricity transmission system and more than 224,000 miles of distribution lines to safely deliver reliable and affordable power to 5.5 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation’s largest electricity producers with approximately 31,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including more than 5,900 megawatts of renewable energy. The company’s plans include growing its renewable generation portfolio to approximately 50% of total capacity by 2030. AEP is on track to achieve an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from 2000 levels by 2030 and has committed to achieve net zero by 2050. AEP is recognized consistently for its focus on sustainability, community engagement, and diversity, equity and inclusion. AEP’s family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas and the Texas Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, which provides innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more information, visit aep.com.

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