What You Need to Know
- The National Weather Service’s storm survey team confirmed six tornadoes following a line of severe storms that moved through the Four States Area. Four of the tornadoes were within SWEPCO’s service territory. The severe weather late Sunday toppled trees, damaged power infrastructure and disrupted service to SWEPCO customers.
- Safety for our customers and crew remains a top priority. Please treat any downed lines as dangerous. Call 911 to report any hazards or call SWEPCO immediately at (888) 218-3919.
- SWEPCO crews including additional lineworkers and tree crews from five states have fully mobilized to help with our response.
- As part of the crew response, specialized track equipment has been brought in to access damaged areas, and teams have leveraged resources on the ground, in the air and on boats to get to the work needed to be done.
CURRENT SITUATION
A damaging outbreak of severe weather across the nation’s heartland, toppled trees, snapped lines and disrupted power to SWEPCO customers across the ArkLaTex region.
Recently, the National Weather Service’s storm survey team confirmed the severe storms included six tornadoes that barreled through the Four States Region. Four tornadoes were confirmed within SWEPCO’s service territory with peak wind gusts estimated between 85 - 100 mph
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With the storm impacts and recent significant rainfall, repairs are required not only in residential areas but also in hard-to-reach, sometimes treacherous terrain. As part of the crew response, specialized track equipment has been brought in to access damaged areas and teams have also leveraged resources on the ground, in the air and on boats so we could make our way to where the work needed to be done.
Powering the response: Work continues. Approximately 1,200 utility workers, including lineworkers and tree crews, have made their way from five states to offer help. The team expects another big push towards restoring customers will be accomplished Tuesday. As that work progresses, we will share any potential restoration time updates.
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At peak, approximately 61,000 SWEPCO customers were without power.
As of Tuesday, at 9:00 a.m., power has been restored to roughly 50,115 customers.
All hospitals and critical care facilities are online.
Because of excessive damage to electrical equipment including transmission and distribution systems, SWEPCO customers should prepare for extended power outages and in some cases additional outages could occur as we repair damage to our system.
Based on the number of outages and crews available, we develop a Global Estimated Time of Restoration or ETR, which is an estimate of how long it will take to restore 95% of all customers affected.
The more damage there is to the system, the further out in time the global ETR will be.
Latest restoration times include the following:
- Marshall, Carthage, and Mt Pleasant, Texas – 10 p.m. Tuesday, April 30
- Hornbeck, La. – 10 p.m. Tuesday, April 30
- Shreveport and Bossier, La. – 10 p.m. Wednesday, May 1
As work progresses, additional updates will be forthcoming.
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.
GET RESTORATION UPDATES: Enroll in our alerts at SWEPCO.com/Alerts or see outages via our SWEPCO.com/OutageMap.
DISCOVER STORM SAFETY TIPS: Storm season brings extra dangers and the time to prepare for the next storm is now. The potential for additional storms is possible later in the week through the weekend. Find safety tips for before, during and after the storm. Learn more
NEXT UPDATE: We will continue to keep you informed as more information becomes available. Updates will be provided at SWEPCO.com and other communication channels.
STAY CONNECTED: To receive the latest alerts and information from SWEPCO, customers should: