PINEVILLE, LA. - Cleco sent a 27-member storm team and approximately 40 contractors Saturday to Columbus, OH after strong summer storms extensively damaged American Electric Power’s (AEP) electric system. Approximately 660,000 customers throughout the AEP Ohio service territory were without power after the storm.

“This level of damage is very similar to what we see after a hurricane,” said Floyd Pittman, Cleco’s manager of distribution reliability and maintenance. “We’ve been told that this restoration could last for at least five-to-seven days. Our crews are preparing their equipment and trucks and are ready to help in any way."

Last year, Cleco sent crews to Maryland and Delaware to help restore power after Hurricane Irene and to areas near Hartford, CT., after a winter storm caused damage to utility systems. Columbus is approximately 1,000 miles from central Louisiana and will take the crews nearly two days to travel."

“Our crews travel farther today than they did earlier in my career,” said Pittman.  “However, a storm like this caused millions of outages in a large geographical area. The outages are so widespread that utilities serving these areas will bring in crews from far away to help restore power. We remember the crews that helped us after strong storms, and we want to assist when others are in need.”