Shelby County Today

April 15, 2020 (1 p.m. Wednesday) - SWEPCO One Voice #6 = Easter Sunday Storms

At 1 p.m. Wednesday, approximately 4,600 customers in East Texas remain without power after three waves of severe storms swept across SWEPCO’s three-state service territory on Easter Sunday. At the peak, 64,000 customers were without power.

Additional crews have joined the SWEPCO, AEP and contract crews already working in the restoration effort. Workers are practicing social distancing and other measures to stay healthy and prevent the spread of coronavirus, making the recovery effort especially challenging.

Damage from high winds and lightning is widespread, requiring significant repair work in many locations across East Texas. Damage includes broken poles, wires down, and trees down from outside the rights-of-way, which caused outages and make access difficult to some locations.

The first line of storms left 22,000 customers without power Sunday morning, mostly in Texas and Louisiana. Power had been restored to 14,000 customers by the afternoon. However, more storms struck Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas during the late afternoon and evening, pushing the total number of customers without power to 64,000 by 9 p.m. Sunday.

Here are the estimated times of restoration for 95% of customers in each area, including surrounding communities. NOTE: Your power may be restored sooner.

East Texas

• Gilmer – 10 p.m. Wednesday
• Gladewater – 10 p.m. Wednesday
• Longview – 12 noon Thursday

Work also continues to restore service to all customers remaining without power in communities not listed above.

OUTAGE INFO:

SWEPCO Mobile App – Report outages, check outage status, and more. Download at 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

SAFETY:

KEEP A SAFE DISTANCE: Help utility crews stay safe and healthy while working to restore your power. 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.

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. All downed lines should be considered energized and dangerous. And don't touch anything in contact with the line, such as trees, fences or puddles of water, since they can conduct electricity. Keep children and pets away from this potential hazard. Call SWEPCO to report any downed lines or equipment.

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.

CUSTOMER INFORMATION

SERVICE ENTRANCE DAMAGE? SWEPCO cannot connect power to a home or business if there is damage to the service entrance. Customers need to have a qualified electrician repair this damage before power can be restored. The service entrance, which is owned by the customer, 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.

April 15, 2020 - Shelby County Judge Allison Harbison reported 44 cases of COVID-19 at the beginning of the Commissioners' Court meeting which is currently underway.

Shelby County Office of Emergency Management was notified Monday afternoon by Texas Dept. of State Health Services (DSHS) of 10 more positive confirmed case of COVID-19 bringing the total case count for Shelby County to 44.

Judge Harbison said, "I realize that the count that I report may not be the same as the one on the DSHS website but we are documenting all the cases as we are notified. I apologize for the confusion but we have requested DSHS send their list so we could make sure we have the most updated information. We cannot report information that we do not have."

DSHS reports that the majority of these cases are community spread and not travel related.

According to DSHS reporting, 9 of these 44 cases are hospitalized. DSHS did not have any information on whether any of the 10 new cases were hospitalized.

April 13, 2020 - At 10:30 a.m. Monday, approximately 45,300 customers remain without power after three waves of severe storms with high winds and lightning swept across SWEPCO’s service territory on Easter Sunday.

The outages include 31,200 in Texas, 12,300 in Louisiana and 1,800 in Arkansas.

The first line of storms left 22,000 customers without power Sunday morning, mostly in Texas and Louisiana. Power had been restored to 14,000 customers by the afternoon. However, more storms struck Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas during the late afternoon and evening, leaving a total of 64,000 customers without power by 9 p.m. Sunday.

The storms heavily damaged SWEPCO’s electric system with multiple broken poles and wires down. For example, in several locations, more than 10 poles were down on a single circuit.

Crews continue to assess damage and restore power as safely and quickly as power. Crews from SWEPCO’s sister companies – AEP Texas and Public Service Company of Oklahoma – are joining the restoration effort, along with outside contract crews. Estimated times of restoration will be provided as assessment progresses. Overall storm restoration will be a multiple-day effort.

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. All downed lines should be considered energized and dangerous. And don't touch anything in contact with the line, such as trees, fences or puddles of water, since they can conduct electricity. Keep children and pets away from this potential hazard. Call SWEPCO to report any downed lines or equipment.

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 INFO:

SWEPCO Mobile App – Report outages, check outage status, and more. Download at 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

National Weather Service Shreveport LA issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning at 7:29pm CDT, Sunday, April 12. 2020.

April 12, 2020 - The National Weather Service in Shreveport has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning until 8:15 PM CDT for Northwestern De Soto Parish in northwestern Louisiana, Caddo Parish in northwestern Louisiana, Bossier Parish in northwestern Louisiana, Marion County in northeastern Texas, Harrison County in northeastern Texas, Panola County in northeastern Texas, Central Rusk County in northeastern Texas, and Northwestern Shelby County in eastern Texas.

At 7:28 PM CDT, a severe gust front was located along a line extending from 7 miles north of Berea to Woodlawn to 8 miles southwest of Marshall to 7 miles southwest of Tatum to near Turnertown, moving east at 60 mph. These severe winds are arriving well ahead of the thunderstorms.

Radar indicated hazardous weather including 60 mph wind gusts. Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include Shreveport, Bossier City, Marshall, Henderson, Carthage, Vivian, Haughton, Greenwood, Blanchard, Waskom, Jefferson, Benton, Stonewall, Logansport, Tatum, Tenaha, Timpson, Plain Dealing, Oil City and Beckville.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. Wind damage with these storms will occur before any rain or lightning. Do not wait for the sound of thunder before taking cover. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY inside a sturdy structure and stay away from windows.