PINEVILLE, La. – (4:30 p.m.) – Cleco has restored power to 6,800 of the roughly 9,500 customers who experienced outages after strong storms moved through central Louisiana yesterday afternoon.

“Despite damage to transmission structures, substations, transformers, crossarms, over 50 broken poles, and downed wire, our crews have made great progress today.  They have restored power to 72 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 been challenging to our restoration efforts.”

As of 4:30 p.m., roughly 2,700 Cleco customers were without power in Rapides Parish. Cleco expects to restore power to about half of those customers tonight and anticipates the remaining 1,400 customers will be without power overnight.  Those 1,400 customers who should prepare to be without power overnight are located in the Hwy 28 West, Grundy Cooper and Bayou Rapides areas of Alexandria, as well as areas of Pineville, Gardner, Boyce and Hot Wells. 

“While our crews are still working, we do expect some outages will last overnight, and we ask our 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 to assist with clean-up, repairs and restoration efforts.  This morning, Cleco brought in more Cleco and contractor line mechanics and vegetation specialists from around Louisiana and neighboring states. 

“Cleco has 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.”

For the most up-to-the-minute outage information, visit Cleco’s Storm Center page at outage.cleco.com.