FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) and OG&E are sending crews south after Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on the state of Louisiana.
Each company deployed around 200 crew members to Louisiana to assist in restoring power.
A contingent of over 50 OG&E trucks carrying 240 linemen, vegetation management personnel and support staff departed from a staging area in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
OG&E was requested by Entergy in Louisiana for additional support. SWEPCO crews from the Fayetteville district will travel south this week to join Entergy's recovery efforts.
“Our crews are ready to go to work. We take pride in lending our resources and expertise to restore power to Entergy Louisiana’s customers should Hurricane Ida impact their electric service,” said Andrea Dennis, OG&E Vice President of Transmission & Distribution Operations. “We appreciate the assistance we received in times of severe weather events, and we are happy to answer the call when our fellow utility companies ask. We know people depend on electricity and our industry has long supported each other when disaster strikes.”
“SWEPCO employees and contractors will be working to get the lights back on as safely and quickly as possible for folks in hard-hit communities who need our help,” said Drew Seidel, SWEPCO vice president of Distribution Region Operations. “At the same time, we will remain ready to handle outages here at home,”
OG&E’s mutual assistance crews are typically deployed for up to 14 days, but the company will send additional support if needed.