PINEVILLE, La. – Cleco continues to restore power to customers in central Louisiana after an ice storm brought freezing rain to the area. Cleco crews are assessing the damage and expect to restore power to most customers by tomorrow.

“We are seeing some progress with our restoration as we continue to assess the damage from the ice storm,” said Anthony Bunting, vice president of transmission and distribution operations. “We have 200 additional workers in the area to help restore power. The ice does not appear to be melting, which could produce more outages as limbs continue to fall. These limbs also could produce recurring outages as lines recently repaired could receive more damage.”

As of 11:30 a.m., Cleco reports the following outages:

Allen Parish - 5 
Avoyelles Parish – 7,800
Evangeline Parish – 834
Grant Parish – 1,179
Rapides Parish – 17,882

Total 27,700

Cleco urges customers to use caution around downed power lines. Stay away and call 911 or Cleco at 1-800-622-6537.