January 11, 2020 - SWEPCO employees and contract crews have restored power to more than half of its customers in the Ark-La-Tex who lost power after overnight storms broke utility poles, downed wires and felled trees.
At the peak, about 29,300 customers were without power.
As of 3 p.m. Saturday, approximately 12,500 customers remained without power. SWEPCO is working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to about 9,800 customers in Louisiana and 2,700 customers in Texas. Power is expected to be restored to all Arkansas customers by 4 p.m. today.
Call SWEPCO immediately at 1-888-218-3919 to report downed wires, poles and other safety hazards.
“No matter how harmless a wire looks, never touch it, or go near it. It could be energized,” said Tony Rash, SWEPCO’s safety & health manager. “Stay away and keep others away, especially children and pets.”
Power is expected to be restored to 95 percent of customers who can receive power by:
Louisiana
- Shreveport – 10 p.m. Sunday
- Bossier City – 10 p.m. Sunday
- Benton – 10 p.m. Sunday
- Haughton – 10 p.m. Sunday
- Hornbeck – 8 p.m. Saturday
- Mansfield – 6 p.m. Saturday
- Natchitoches – 10 p.m. Saturday
- Vivian – 10 p.m. Sunday
Texas
- Carthage – 10 p.m. Saturday
- Henderson – 9 p.m. Saturday
- Kilgore – 9 p.m. Saturday
- Longview – 10 p.m. Saturday
- Marshall – 10 p.m. Saturday
- Mineola – 10 p.m. Saturday
Customers can receive an email or text message with the latest info for their home or business by signing up for alerts at SWEPCO.com/Alerts.
Nearly 400 additional line and tree personnel are helping SWEPCO employees restore power, including line mechanics from SWEPCO’s sister utility Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO).
Extensive damage has been reported in Benton and Haughton, Louisiana, and Kilgore and Longview, Texas.
SWEPCO crews are working to restore power as safely and quickly as possible to the 22,000 customers in the Ark-La-Tex who remain without power after overnight storms broke utility poles, downed wires, and toppled trees.
At the peak, about 29,300 customers were without power. Extensive damage has been reported in Benton and Haughton, Louisiana, and Kilgore and Longview, Texas.
Never touch a downed line, or go near it, no matter how harmless it looks. The line could be energized. Don’t touch anything in contact with the line, such as trees, fences, or puddles of water. Stay away and keep others away, especially children and pets. Call SWEPCO immediately at 1-888-218-3919.
SWEPCO will share estimated times of restoration as soon as they are available.
An additional 150 field personnel are helping SWEPCO employees restore power. Fifteen line mechanics from SWEPCO’s sister utility Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) have been called in to assist with power restoration.
The wind gusted up to 60 miles per hour (MPH) in Caddo, Lousiana, according to the National Weather Service. The NWA reported the following peak wind gusts:
- Bossier City, LA, 59 MPH
- Shreveport, LA, 54 MPH
- Mansfield, LA, 46 MPH
- Longview, TX, 48 MPH
- Texarkana, AR, 41 MPH
- DeQueen, AR, 47 MPH
OUTAGE INFO:
SWEPCO Mobile App – Report outages, check outage status, and more. Download at App store or Google Play. See SWEPCO.com/App
SWEPCO Alerts – Get an email or text message with the latest info for your home or business. See SWEPCO.com/Alerts.
SWEPCO.com – View an outage map, report outages, and find additional safety information.
