Thousands without power four days after Hurricane Delta

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Power restoration updates as of 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, following Hurricane Delta.

ENTERGY

CALCASIEU PARISH

Number of outages as of 10 a.m.: 6,428

Percentage of damage assessments complete: 94%

Estimated restoration:

Sulphur and Westlake areas: At this time, we estimate power to be restored between Tuesday, October 13th with a few customer outages extending into Wednesday, October 14.

Lake Charles area: At this time, we estimate power to be restored between Thursday, October 15th with a few customer outages extending into Friday, October 16.

Area Notes: All area hospitals have been restored.

JEFF DAVIS PARISH

Number of outages as of 10 a.m.: 4,496

Percentage of damage assessments complete: 99%

Estimated restoration:

Jennings: The majority of customers who can receive power will be restored Wednesday, October 14 with a few customer outages extending into Thursday, October 15.

Customers outside of Jennings who can receive power will be restored Friday, October 16 with a few customer outages extending into Saturday, October 17.

BECi

As of 10 a.m., Oct. 13, 24,690 of BECi’s 42,899 customers remained without power - 3,367 out in Allen, 9,231 out in Beauregard, 5,657 out in Calcasieu and 5,115 out in Vernon.

On October 12, BECi restored power to another 7,300 members, bringing the total number of restored members to 18,200.

Five hundred additional linemen have returned to BECi’s housing and staging area, known as “Tent City”, at the Beauregard Parish Regional Airport to aid in the restoration effort. Many of these linemen are returning for a second round of restoration after working to restore power after Hurricane Laura left 43,000 BECi members without power only a few short weeks ago.

“It still seems hard to believe that we have been hit with two major hurricanes in a matter of weeks,” said BECi General Manager Kevin Turner. “Even though we are dealing with the residual effects of Delta’s rains, in terms of high water and flooded area, I think we are making great strides in restoring our members quickly. I’m really proud of all the hard work of all of our employees.”

BECi anticipates that power will be restored to the Elizabeth, Sugartown, Merryville and Pitkin substations by Wednesday, October 14. After substations are energized, crew will begin making repairs to service and tap lines. The co-op anticipates that all members will be restored within two weeks.

JEFF DAVIS ELECTRIC CO-OP

After restoring power to 75% of its consumer-members, Hurricane Delta made landfall on October 9 knocking out the entire system for the second time this hurricane season. Suffering extensive damages from Hurricane Laura, it took five weeks to rebuild 75% of system back. The category 2 hurricane, with sustaining winds of 100 mph, delt the Jeff Davis Electric Co-op (JDEC) another powerful blow.

“Today we were able to reach a significant milestone restoring power once again to some consumer-members,” said JDEC General Manager Mike Heinen. JDEC is reporting restoration for consumer-members in Calcasieu parish. Approximately 954 meters from the Manchester substation including west to Earl Daughenbaugh Road; south to Helms Road; east on Highway 14; east on Amoco Road; east on Nick Martone and Harris Road.

About 50% of the Charlie substation was also energized today, approximately 330 meters - east to Manchester Road; south to McCowan Road. JDEC anticipates restoration on the remainder of the Charlie substation will be completed tomorrow.

“We had to send our additional line crews, from Hurricane Laura, home to keep them out of harm’s way prior to Hurricane Delta,” said Heinen. “However, they have been traveling from their home states to return and continue to help us in our restoration and reconstruction efforts. I’m incredibly grateful for all the extra help we have received.” JDEC has spent the last couple days ramping up their out-of-state crews back to the pre-Hurricane Delta numbers of over 700 personnel. JDEC employees have also spent the last several days assessing damages and make repairs to the system so the areas that could take power could be restored quickly. Now that the additional personnel are returning, JDEC plans to have crews working in all substation locations starting tomorrow.