Here are updates from power companies about outages:
CLECO: Cleco has restored power to over 30 percent of the roughly 59,000 customers statewide who experienced outages after Tropical Storm Barry slowly made its way across Louisiana over the last two days. Cleco, along with contractor crews, continue to assess the damage and work on restoration efforts.
Cleco began assessing the damage in its south Louisiana territory of St. Martin, St. Mary and Iberia Parishes and Breaux Bridge early today. The assessment showed that 21 of the area’s 30 high voltage distribution lines were damaged, creating a large restoration effort for the company. The south Central and Central areas of Cleco’s territory also experienced broken poles and downed power lines as winds blew through the state yesterday and early this morning.
“We sometimes underestimate the strength of a strong tropical storm,” said James Lass, general manager of distribution operations and emergency management. “Barry’s winds were damaging to our system, and now we are busy putting the pieces back together.”
In addition to system damage, crews are encountering impassable or closed roads due to debris or flooded roads, which have impacted Cleco’s restoration efforts.
All available Cleco crews and vegetation personnel, as well as 1,000 additional line mechanics and 400 tree trimmers continue to work around the clock to get the lights back on for customers.
“Cleco remains prepared with the manpower, materials and equipment necessary to restore power safely and efficiently,” said Lass, “However, from the beginning, Barry was difficult to predict. It was a slow moving storm that dropped a lot of rain and produced high winds that made for challenging conditions.”
As of 4 p.m., Cleco had approximately 40,500 customers without power.
- Avoyelles Parish: 768
- Evangeline Parish: 103
- Grant Parish: 619
- Iberia Parish: 23,213
- Rapides Parish: 761
- St. Landry Parish: 107
- St. Martin Parish: 614
- St. Mary Parish: 14,161
- St. Tammany Parish: 74
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CLECO: As of noon, approximately 52,000 customers were experiencing power outages.
ENTERGY: As of 5 p.m. here are the reported customers without power by parish:
Lafayette: 1,760
St. Landry: 886
Acadia: 240
Vermilion: 430
Jeff Davis: 58
Calcasieu: 445
Iberia: 2,032
St. Martin: 1,834
Across Louisiana, 43,460 Entergy customers are without power.
There are about 3,900 workers in town to restore power across Louisiana. They'll be working night and day.
