PINEVILLE, La. – Cleco is 99 percent complete with its restoration efforts today after a band of destructive storms moved across its service territory yesterday. At the height of the storm, 28,868 of Cleco’s customers were without power.

“Our crews completed repairs in areas that mirrored hurricane-level damage and worked through rough weather conditions to restore our customers’ power,” said Anthony Bunting, vice president of transmission and distribution operations. “Their progress slowed today due to the severity of the destruction and the location of the outages; however, we expect to have power restored tomorrow to the remaining customers who live in the heaviest damaged areas.”

The storm impacted nearly every part of Cleco’s service territory as it moved across the state. The storm brought rain, hail and high winds, which took down trees and tree limbs, causing poles and crossarms to break.

“We had more than 400 workers involved with this storm restoration,” said Bunting. “I am pleased with their response and their determination to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible.”

Even with power restored to most customers, electric lines still could be lying on the ground. Cleco reminds everyone to stay away from downed power lines. Even if power has been restored in an area, it is not safe to assume lines are de-energized. Stay away and keep others away. To report a potentially dangerous situation with electricity, call Cleco at 1-800-622-6537.