Hurricane Update No. 21

8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 7, 2020

Shreveport, La., (Sept. 7, 2020) – SWEPCO is working to complete power restoration to approximately 2,400 Central Louisiana customers in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura.

“We are close to completion in the Natchitoches area, and we are working on the remaining circuits, including those in Hornbeck and Hicks,” said Drew Seidel, SWEPCO vice president of Distribution Region Operations.

In the Natchitoches area, SWEPCO is asking any customers still without power to report their outage again.

“This will help us address any individual outages we may have missed,” Seidel said.

“We expect to have power restored to many of the remaining customers in Hornbeck, Hicks and other communities tonight, and we will continue until all who can take power have service,” he said

Some customers have damage to their weatherhead, which will need to be repaired by a qualified electrician before SWEPCO can safely reconnect power. Typically, this is the pipe rising from the meter box and other parts of the service entrance, which can be pulled away from the building or otherwise damaged by high winds and downed trees. These facilities are owned by the customer. After repairs are made, call SWEPCO to have service reconnected restored.

SWEPCO has restored power to almost 40,000, or about 94% of the 42,000 Central Louisiana customers who lost power. That includes customers in Bienville, DeSoto, Grant, Natchitoches, Red River, Sabine, Vernon and Winn parishes.

For all of SWEPCO, power has been restored to more than 133,000 customers, or 98%, of those without power after Hurricane Laura struck SWEPCO’s service area as a Category 2 storm on Thursday, Aug. 27.

SWEPCO began demobilizing its Natchitoches base camp Monday while work continues with full resources committed to the remaining customer outages.Crews will continue to operate from base camps in Leesville and Shreveport and SWEPCO’s regular operations centers in Central Louisiana. Closing the Natchitoches base camp makes way for the return of students to the Northwestern State University campus this week.

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

• 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.

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.

• More information: https://swepco.com/outages/faq/DamageToYourHomeOrBusiness.aspx

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.