Pineville, La., - Tropical Storm Barry, which was briefly upgraded to a Category 1 Hurricane, continues to move across Cleco’s service territory leaving over 58,000 Cleco customers without power across the state. 

“The hardest hit areas are St. Mary and Iberia Parishes.  Roughly 75 percent of the impacted customers are in those parishes,” said James Lass, general manager of distribution operations and emergency management.  “Cleco has been out assessing damage and crews are working on power restoration.  We have over 1,000 line mechanics and 400 tree trimmers, as well as all of the necessary equipment and materials to get the lights back on.”   

Power Outages as of 8 a.m.

“When power goes out, some customers rely on a generator for temporary power,” said Lass.  “Generators, when used correctly, can provide backup power to a customer’s home or business, but we remind our customers to be safe.”

• Never run a generator indoors.

• Thoroughly read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for the proper use of a portable generator.

• Operate the generator in a well-ventilated area.

• Plug appliances directly into portable generators with grounded extension cords that can handle the load.

• Don’t plug a generator cord directly into a wall outlet.  A generator can back feed electricity through a home’s electric wiring to the entire Cleco circuit.  This can damage a generator and in some instances cause injury or even death to a worker attempting to repair that circuit.

• Don’t exceed the rated capacity of a generator.

• Only refuel a generator when the engine is off and cool.

For more safety tips, as well as up-to-the-minute outage information and estimated restoration times, visit Cleco’s Storm Center website at outage.cleco.com or follow the company on Facebook at @ClecoPower.