765 still without power in St. Mary

Cleco crews continue a massive restoration effort after Hurricane Laura swept across the company’s service territory yesterday causing extensive damage and widespread outages to nearly 140,000 customers.

“We appreciate our customers’ patience as we continue to work through the damage left behind by Hurricane Laura,” said James Lass, director of distribution operations and emergency management. “Cleco has been out assessing damage and crews are working on power restoration. We have over 2,000 personnel dedicated to this effort, as well as all of the necessary equipment and materials to get the lights back on.”
Cleco crews worked late into the night and early this morning on restoration efforts and have restored power to nearly 40,000 of the affected customers.
Power outages as of 8 a.m.:
Acadia – 2,800
Allen – 5,900
Avoyelles – 5,500
Beauregard – 5,100
Calcasieu – 2,500
Catahoula - 18
Desoto – 1,600
Evangeline – 6,800
Grant – 7,400
Iberia – 3,500
Jefferson Davis - 39
Lasalle - 15
Natchitoches - 640
Rapides – 41,000
Sabine – 6,300
St. Landry – 3,400
St. Martin - 620
St. Mary - 765
Vernon – 5,700

“When the power goes out, some customers rely on a generator for temporary power,” said Lass. “Generators, when used correctly, can provide backup power to a customer’s home or business, but we remind our customers to be safe.”
--Never run a generator indoors.
--Thoroughly read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for the proper use of a portable generator.
--Operate the generator in a well-ventilated area.
--Plug appliances directly into portable generators with grounded extension cords that can handle the load.
--Don’t plug a generator cord directly into a wall outlet. A generator can back feed electricity through a home’s electric wiring to the entire Cleco circuit. This can damage a generator and in some instances cause injury or even death to a worker attempting to repair that circuit.
--Don’t exceed the rated capacity of a generator.
--Only refuel a generator when the engine is off and cool.

For more safety tips, as well as up-to-the-minute outage information and estimated restoration times, visit Cleco’s Storm Center website at outage.cleco.com or follow the company on Facebook at @ClecoPower.