A severe weather outbreak recently swept through the nation's heartland, leading to widespread power disruptions for customers of Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) in the ArkLaTex region. The inclement weather resulted in numerous downed trees and damaged power lines, affecting a significant number of residents and businesses.
Response Efforts by SWEPCO
SWEPCO has activated its storm response plan, with post-storm assessments currently underway. To address the extensive damage, numerous crews from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Alabama have joined forces with SWEPCO's line and tree crews to expedite the restoration process. At the peak of the outage, around 61,000 customers were without power.
Power Restoration Progress
SWEPCO successfully restored power to approximately 44,000 customers
As of 6 p.m., SWEPCO successfully restored power to approximately 44,000 customers, ensuring that all hospitals and critical care facilities are now online. However, due to the extensive damage sustained by the electrical equipment, including significant impacts to the transmission and distribution systems, customers are urged to prepare for prolonged outages. Additional outages may still occur as repairs continue across the system.
Estimated Restoration Times
To manage customer expectations, SWEPCO develops a Global Estimated Time of Restoration (ETR) to estimate when 95% of the affected customers will have their power restored. The extent of the system damage directly influences the timing of the global ETR. Current estimated restoration times include:
- Henderson, TX – 10 p.m.
- Natchitoches and Mansfield – 10 p.m.
- Marshall, Carthage, and Mt Pleasant, TX – 10 p.m. Tuesday, April 30
- Hornbeck, LA – 10 p.m. Tuesday, April 30
- Shreveport and Bossier, LA – 10 p.m. Wednesday, May 1
