SWEPCO update: No power for a week? | News | news-journal.com - Longview News-Journal
SWEPCO update: No power for a week? | News | news-journal.com
SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE
Large swaths of Gregg County remain without power more than 24 hours after severe storms tore a path through East Texas early Friday morning.
According to a SWEPCO update at 11 a.m., more than 34,000 of the power company's 59,000 county customers (57%) were without power. In total, more than 200,000 SWEPCO customers remained without power Saturday, out of nearly 550,000 total customers (37%).
SWEPCO outages (11 a.m. Saturday)
County Outages Customers Affected Bowie Fewer than 5 32,478 <1% Camp 897 3,102 28% Cass 852 7,691 11% Franklin 4,248 4,401 96% Gregg 34,207 59,265 57% Harrison 17,481 20,674 84% Hopkins 383 386 99% Marion 1,534 2,179 70% Morris 557 3,742 14% Panola 1,878 5,669 33% Rains 8 69 11% Rusk 1,334 12,896 10% Shelby 2,527 3,916 64% Smith 882 1,002 88% Titus 2,455 7,810 31% Upshur 4,369 6,522 66% Van Zandt 414 2,313 17% Wood 3,183 7,037 45%
ORIGINAL STORY
The storms which struck East Texas early Friday morning could have long-lasting effects for the people of Longview and surrounding areas.
According to a SWEPCO update from Friday night, residents in the Longview service territory who are without power, could remain that way until late Friday, June 23.
The power company says that it has activated an "all-in response" to restore all affected customers in East Texas and northwest Louisiana. As of Friday night, nearly a quarter-million customers remained without power.
SWEPCO says that "due to excessive damage to our electrical facilities, SWEPCO customers should prepare for prolonged power outages and in some cases additional outages as we repair damage to our system. We will know more once damage assessment is completed."
SWEPCO offered the following restoration estimates, saying that service could be restored sooner.
- Natchitoches service territory in Louisiana – 10 p.m., Tuesday, June 20
- Texarkana service territory in Texas – 10 p.m., Wednesday, June 21
- Longview service territory in Texas – 10 p.m., Friday, June 23
- Shreveport service territory and surrounding communities in Louisiana – 10 p.m., Saturday, June 24
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: electricity
Electricity is a secondary energy source: it is generated through the conversion of primary energy sources such as natural gas, coal, solar, hydropower, and wind. Electricity’s versatility is not cost-free: a substantial amount of energy is lost in its generation and the cost of storage is high, compared with fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. The economics of battery technology hold the key to expanded use of renewable sources to generate electricity.