PINEVILLE, La. – Aug. 28, 2020 (4 p.m.) – As of 4 p.m. today, Cleco has restored power to over 49,000 of the 140,000 customers who lost electricity after Hurricane Laura moved across the state yesterday.

As workers continue to restore power and survey damage, assessments indicate the recovery could be long.

“This is the worst storm to hit our state in more than 100 years, so this could be a long recovery process,” said James Lass, director of distribution operations and emergency management.  “The damage is catastrophic, many areas are not accessible due to trees and water, and in some areas, our crews are encountering instances of bad weather.  The work is massive, and it will take days if not weeks to restore power to all customers especially those in our hardest hit parishes.”

The latest assessments show Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Grant, Rapides and Vernon parishes were the hardest hit.

Cleco will be able to provide more details on restoration progress in specific towns and cities in the coming days.  In the meantime, the company asks that customers not stop crews, as they are driving and working.  Not only is it not safe, it slows power restoration work.

Below are outages by parish as of 4 p.m.
Acadia – 1,785

Allen – 5,917

Avoyelles – 3,445

Beauregard – 5,122

Calcasieu – 2,461

Catahoula - 18

Desoto – 1,280

Evangeline – 5,773

Grant – 7,685

Iberia – 2,589

Jefferson Davis - 39

Lasalle - 15

Natchitoches - 641

Rapides – 39,753
Red River – 67

Sabine – 6,363

St. Landry – 1,109

St. Martin – 480

St. Mary - 603

Vernon – 5,684

Key points on Hurricane Laura:

• Cleco has over 2,500 external and internal resources dedicated to the restoration process.
• Cleco is still assessing damage to it electrical system and continues to find hundreds of electrical poles down, along with significant tree damage and downed power lines.

For additional information on Cleco’s storm response, follow the company on Facebook @ClecoPower or visit Cleco’s Storm Center page at cleco.com/storm-center.