Hurricane Update No. 16
11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 4, 2020

Shreveport, La., (Sept. 4, 2020) – SWEPCO has revised its overall estimated time of restoration for communities in the Hornbeck, La., area to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, as crews have encountered more extensive damage and difficulties with accessing work sites in the wake of Hurricane Laura. More details for communities in the area will be provided later today.

“This area took the full force of the Category 2 hurricane winds, and the damage is some of the worst our crews have ever seen,” said Drew Seidel, SWEPCO vice president of Distribution Region Operations. “As thousands of storm personnel continue rebuilding the electric system devastated by Hurricane Laura, we can see from the severe damage and access issues that it’s necessary to revise our estimated restoration times,” Seidel said.

“We know this is a time of real hardship for our customers. Rest assured that we won’t stop at all through this holiday weekend as we work as safely and quickly as possible to get the lights back on,” he said.

Estimates are for 95% of customers who can take power. Many customers’ power will be restored sooner.

At 11 a.m. Friday, SWEPCO reported 18,000 customers without power in Central Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura, including 11,600 in the Hornbeck area and 6,400 in the Natchitoches area.

Repairs have been completed to 19 of the 20 substations knocked out of service by Hurricane Laura. SWEPCO expects to complete installation today of a generator near a Leesville substation to provide an alternate source of power in the area. Crews continue to repair power lines that deliver electricity from those substations to homes and businesses across Central Louisiana.

SWEPCO has restored power to 24,000 Central Louisiana customers. At the peak after the hurricane, 42,000 customer were without power in Bienville, DeSoto, Grant, Natchitoches, Red River, Sabine, Vernon and Winn parishes.

For all of SWEPCO, power has been restored to 118,000 customers, or about 87%, of those without power after Hurricane Laura struck SWEPCO’s service area as a Category 2 storm on Thursday, Aug. 27.

Estimated Times of Restoration

Hornbeck and surrounding communities:

10 p.m. Tuesday (detailed information to come later today)

Natchitoches Area:
Provencal –

10 p.m. Friday – Hagewood Hwy 6 to Hwy 504 Oak Grove community

10 p.m. Saturday – Hwy 120 Provencal and east to Cypress

10 p.m. Sunday – Provencal and south on Hwy. 117 to Belwood; Hagewood Hwy. 6 to Robeline

Verda –

10 p.m. Saturday – Hwy. 471 Verda to Atlanta, La; Verda Hwy. 471 and Hwy 122 to Dry Prong

10 p.m. Sunday – Verda Hwy 122 to Montgomery

Derry –

10 p.m. Friday – Derry La  Hwy. 119 to Melrose; Derry La Hwy 1 north to Cypress, La

10 p.m. Saturday – Derry La Hwy. 1 south to Marco

Many –

10 p.m. Friday – Many Marthaville Rd

10 p.m. Sunday – Many Hwy 6 runs east to Robeline Ft. Jessup area

Marthaville –

10 p.m. Saturday – Marthaville Hwy. 120 to Robeline; Marthaville Hwy 120 to Natchitoches Parish/Sabine Parish line

Cane River –

10 p.m. Saturday- Hwy. 1 south to Natchez and Hwy 1 bypass to I-49

Grand Ecore –

10 p.m. Sunday – Hwy. 6 west of Grand Ecore and Clarence community, St. Maurice, Montgomery

Campti –

10 p.m. Friday – Campti Hwy 71 south to Clarence

10 p.m. Saturday – Campti Hwy. 71 north to Fairview; Campti Hwy. 480 east to Sandy Point

Colfax –

10 p.m. Saturday – Colfax Hwy 492 to Rock Hill community, Meade Rd

 

When Customer Repairs Are Needed

• SWEPCO cannot connect power to a home or business if there is damage to the service entrance, which is owned by the customer.
• Customers need to have a qualified electrician repair this damage before power can be restored. The service entrance includes the metal box housing SWEPCO's meter, the "weatherhead" pipe on top of the meter box, the service entrance cables running from the weatherhead through the meter box to the inside panel box, and other related facilities. Similar responsibilities apply to underground service.
• After repairs are made, contact SWEPCO to have power restored.

Tracking Outages

• Use the SWEPCO app, available for download via the App Store or Google Play.
• Log on to SWEPCO.com to report an outage and sign up for text and email updates, including an estimated time of restoration.
• Visit SWEPCO.com/OutageMap to find detailed information without logging into your account

Public Safety

• Customers without power who are on life support systems or need uninterrupted electric service for health reasons should make alternate arrangements for extended outages. Louisiana residents can call 211 to find cooling centers and other assistance.

• Be careful when driving or walking in all utility crew work zones.
• Maintain at least six feet of physical distance between yourself and SWEPCO field personnel as we all play a crucial role in preventing the spread of coronavirus.
• Workers are practicing social distancing and other measures to stay healthy and prevent the spread of coronavirus, making the recovery effort especially challenging.
• Downed power lines – Never touch a downed utility wire, no matter how harmless it looks. Don't touch anything in contact with the line, such as trees, fences or puddles of water. Stay away and keep others away. Call SWEPCO immediately
• 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.

For updates and photos, see SWEPCO.com and follow SWEPCO on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO)

SWEPCO, an American Electric Power (AEP: NYSE) 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, LinkedIn.com/company/swepco and SWEPCOConnections.com.

 

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Carey Sullivan (318) 272-7074
Karen Wissing (318) 272-2984