SHREVEPORT, La. – SWEPCO crews continue to make progress in the ongoing effort to rebuild SWEPCO’s energy delivery system and have restored service to more than half of all customers impacted by Friday’s severe weather.
The storms, which included a confirmed EF-1 tornado as well as hurricane-level straight line winds, delivered a punch to both the transmission and distribution stations. More severe weather barreled through the region on Sunday and knocked out additional service.
As of 5 p.m. Thursday, just over 21,800 customers remained without power.
According to SWEPCO’s website, those outages include:
- 15,767 customers in Shreveport district including Bossier City and Haughton
- 5,440 customers in the Longview district including Marshall, Carthage, and Gladewater
- 622 customers in Texarkana, Arkansas district including DeQueen, Mt. Pleasant and Nashville
SWEPCO said it’s received reports of some customers receiving text alerts of restored power, when it is not. Anyone who gets a text alert that power is back on, but it’s not, report the outage at SWEPCO.com or through the SWEPCO mobile app.
ESTIMATED RESTORATION TIMES
- Longview District in Texas – 10 p.m., Friday, June 23
- Shreveport District in Louisiana – 10 p.m., Saturday, June 24
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As a result of the severe weather event, Public Service Commissioners joined with community leaders and SWEPCO to provide an update on the extent of damage and the progress made. On Monday, Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell and SWEPCO hosted a press conference to share updates on storm restoration work. Mayors of Shreveport and Bossier were on hand to provide additional perspective. In addition, a Texas delegation comprised of Public Utility of Texas and Texas Division of Emergency Management leaders joined SWEPCO so they could better understand the restoration process, the overall timeline and see the damage sustained during the storm.
Due to the power of the storm, SWEPCO has activated an all-in response.
Through mutual assistance, additional crews were called upon to aid in the effort to help. As a result, nearly 3,000 utility professionals have now joined forces to tackle the work and rebuild communities across northwest Louisiana, east Texas and the western communities in Arkansas following the continued onslaught of extreme weather.
Reports show the early morning storms delivered howling winds that included peak wind gusts that snapped trees and downed lines. As a result of the wide-spread damage, the restoration and recovery effort will take time and officials report that could span many days. Crews continue to assess damage to identify the extent of the severe weather impacts, equipment repairs and time needed to safely restore power.
Peak wind gusts were reported as follows:
- 9 miles south of Barksdale Air Force Base, 80 mph
- Shreveport Regional Airport, 70 mph
- Mount Pleasant Regional Airport, 69 mph
- Shreveport Downtown Airport, 66 mph
- 13 miles east northeast of Carthage, Texas, 58 mph
Click here to connect with SWEPCO and see a real-time map of outages in the area.
Read More: SWEPCO crews restore power to more than 90% of customers | Weather Headlines