Pineville, La. (5 p.m.) – Cleco has restored power to 23,000 of the 28,000 customers who experienced outages after remnants of Tropical Storm Olga moved across Cleco’s service territory in St. Tammany and Washington parishes yesterday morning.

“Despite damage to multiple substations, over 35 broken poles, damage to crossarms and downed wire, our crews have made great progress today.  They have restored power to over 80 percent of affected customers, and they’re still working,” said James Lass, general manager of distribution operations and emergency management.  “In addition to system and equipment damage, crews have encountered impassable or closed roads due to debris which has proved challenging to our restoration efforts.  As such we have brought in specialized equipment.”

As of 5 p.m., roughly 5,000 Cleco customers were without power, approximately 4,850 in St. Tammany Parish and 150 in Washington Parish.  Cleco expects to restore power to 2,000 customers tonight and anticipates the remaining 3,000 customers in Washington Parish and the Covington, Mandeville and Madisonville areas of St. Tammany Parish will be without power overnight. 

“While our crews are still working, we do expect some outages will last overnight and we ask customers with medical needs and small children to make the necessary arrangements for tonight,” said Lass.  “We understand another night without power is not what our customers want to face.  However, we are doing everything we can to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.”

Immediately following the storm, the company secured Cleco personnel from unaffected areas, as well as brought in 175 contractors to assist with clean-up, repairs and restoration efforts.  This morning, Cleco brought in more Cleco line mechanics from around the state and four additional line mechanic contractor crews and vegetation specialists.

“Cleco remains prepared with the workforce, materials and equipment necessary to restore power safely and efficiently,” said Lass.  “We appreciate our customers’ patience and thank our crews and contractors for their hard work.”

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