Crews Continue Mobilized Response to Repower All Customers

By Editor | June 24, 2023 |

Crews continue mobilized response to repower all customers; Overnight extreme weather in east Texas temporarily adds new outages

Despite power restored to more than 95 percent of nearly 250,000 Ark-La-Tex residents following last week’s super cell severe weather event, late Friday storms packed another punch to east Texas and temporarily added new outages.

Saturday morning reports show the storm knocked power to 6,445 customers in Henderson, at peak. Currently 3,960 Henderson customers are without power.

As a result, teams were mobilized and redeployed to hard hit areas. Additionally, the base camp in Longview, Texas for forestry, distribution, transmission, and line crews was extended another day for focused efforts so teams can continue working together to help repower all areas in their latest push to return everyone to service.

“Being without power is difficult. This super cell storm produced unprecedented damage across the Ark-La-Tex,” said SWEPCO President and COO Brett Mattison. “We’re so appreciative of all the crews who joined with us and to our community partners and customers. From all of us at SWEPCO, thank you for your patience and support as we continue to work to repower our communities. We aren’t stopping.”

At the height of the week-long restoration, nearly 4,000 utility professionals converged across the Ark-La-Tex to rebuild SWEPCO’s energy delivery system. Currently, approximately 3,212 utility professionals continue working in our communities.

As of 9:30 a.m. Saturday, SWEPCO reports show an estimated 10,697 customers were without power including:

7,917 in Texas
1,902 in Louisiana
29 in Arkansas

Note: If you get a text alert that your power is back on, but you’re still without power, report your outage by replying OUT to that text message.

Is Your Home Able to Accept Power?

Now is the time to determine if your home is ready to accept power. SWEPCO cannot connect power to a home or business if there is damage to the service entrance, which is owned by the customer. Customers need to have a licensed electrician repair this damage before power can be restored.