PINEVILLE, La. – 8 a.m. update – Last night, Cleco restored power to over half of the approximately 12,000 customers who experienced outages after severe thunderstorms impacted the central and northern portions of its service territory.

Cleco, along with contractor crews, are continuing to assess the damage and work on restoration efforts.  Damage includes broken poles, broken cross arms and extensive downed wire from trees and limbs impacting the electric system as strong winds blew through the areas.

As of 8 a.m. today, Cleco had roughly 6,000 customers without power due to storm-related activity:

Allen Parish - 165 customers

Avoyelles Parish - 364 customers

Calcasieu Parish - 119 customers

Grant Parish - 2,003 customers

Rapides Parish - 2,786 customers

Sabine - 335 customers

Vernon - 284 customers 

“We appreciate our customers’ patience as crews work safely and efficiently to restore power,” said James Lass, general manager of distribution operations and emergency management. 

11 a.m. update – Since 8 a.m. today, Cleco crews have restored power to an additional 3,000 customers affected by yesterday’s storms. In addition to power restoration, our crews are working to clear debris, fix broken poles and pick up downed wire.  Thank you to our crews for working so hard to keep our customers safe!

Cleco warns that downed power lines can be energized and dangerous. Stay away from all power lines and do not attempt to move an object that is touching a downed line. Call 911 or Cleco at 1-800-622-6537 to report a dangerous situation with electricity.