Progress continues but damage indicates recovery from Laura could be long
PINEVILLE, La. – Aug. 28, 2020 (4 p.m.) – As of 4 p.m. today, Cleco has restored power to over 49,000 of the 140,000 customers who lost electricity after Hurricane Laura moved across the state yesterday.
As workers continue to restore power and survey damage, assessments indicate the recovery could be long.
“This is the worst storm to hit our state in more than 100 years, so this could be a long recovery process,” said James Lass, director of distribution operations and emergency management. “The damage is catastrophic, many areas are not accessible due to trees and water, and in some areas, our crews are encountering instances of bad weather. The work is massive, and it will take days if not weeks to restore power to all customers especially those in our hardest hit parishes.”
The latest assessments show Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Grant, Rapides and Vernon parishes were the hardest hit.
Cleco will be able to provide more details on restoration progress in specific towns and cities in the coming days. In the meantime, the company asks that customers not stop crews, as they are driving and working. Not only is it not safe, it slows power restoration work.
Below are outages by parish as of 4 p.m.
Acadia – 1,785
Allen – 5,917
Avoyelles – 3,445
Beauregard – 5,122
Calcasieu – 2,461
Catahoula – 18
Desoto – 1,280
Evangeline – 5,773
Grant – 7,685
Iberia – 2,589
Jefferson Davis – 39
Lasalle – 15
Natchitoches – 641
Rapides – 39,753
Red River – 67
Sabine – 6,363
St. Landry – 1,109
St. Martin – 480
St. Mary – 603
Vernon – 5,684
Key points on Hurricane Laura:
- Cleco has over 2,500 external and internal resources dedicated to the restoration process.
- Cleco is still assessing damage to it electrical system and continues to find hundreds of electrical poles down, along with significant tree damage and downed power lines.
For additional information on Cleco’s storm response, follow the company on Facebook @ClecoPower or visit Cleco’s Storm Center page at cleco.com/storm-center.
Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC is a regional energy holding company that conducts its business operations through its subsidiaries, Cleco Power LLC and Cleco Cajun LLC. Cleco Power is a regulated electric public utility company that owns 10 generating assets with a total nameplate capacity of 3,360 MWs and serves approximately 288,000 customers in Louisiana through its retail business and supplies wholesale power in Louisiana and Mississippi. Cleco Cajun is an unregulated utility company that owns eight generating assets with a total nameplate capacity of 3,555 MWs, with contracts serving nine Louisiana cooperatives, three wholesale municipal customers and one electric utility. For more information about Cleco, visit us at www.cleco.com.
