Cleco restoring power; Avoyelles still the largest number of customers without power

Pineville, La., Jan. 3, 2017 – Cleco crews worked around the clock to restore power to 74 percent of customers who experienced power outages when storms rolled through south central Louisiana yesterday.

Cleco mobilized over 80 workers to respond to the damage to Cleco’s electric system which included broken poles, broken cross arms and downed wires.

“Yesterday afternoon, over 19,000 Cleco customers were without electricity,” said James Lass, general manager of distribution operations and emergency management. “By the end of the night, we had restored power to approximately 14,000 customers.”

Crews continue to make progress in their efforts to restore power to the remaining 5,000 customers.

“Avoyelles Parish was hit particularly hard,” said Lass. “This morning, we energized a transmission line to the substation that feeds Simmesport and Bordelonville which will give power to more customers in that area.”

Cleco expects that 90 percent of all customers will be with power by 4 p.m. today and power will be restored to all customers who can take power by tonight.

Parish - Number of customers with expected power restoration Jan. 3

Allen - 21

Avoyelles - 4,872

Evangeline - 39

Grant - 3

Rapides - 36

St. Landry - 10

St. Mary - 5

St. Tammany - 34

Cleco warns customers that downed power lines can be energized and dangerous. Stay away from all power lines and do not attempt to move an object that is touching a downed line. Call Cleco or 911 to report an unsafe situation with electricity.