15,000 outages remaining as of 4 p.m.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- As of 4 p.m., the number of Entergy Arkansas, Inc. outages was down to 15,000 following a series of thunderstorms and tornadoes Monday and Tuesday that disrupted service to more than 88,000 customers.

“As we continue service restoration to our customers who have been affected by the recent severe weather, we extend our sympathies to those in other parts of the country who have been devastated by this week’s deadly weather,” said Entergy Arkansas President and Chief Executive Officer Hugh McDonald.

“Many of the electric utilities serving those customers have come to our aid many times over the past several years. We appreciate their responses in our times of need and will be ready to help them recover just as soon as we restore service to all of our customers.”

Tuesday’s thunderstorm was the fourth major storm system to hit Arkansas in two weeks. About 1,200 additional workers are in Arkansas to help with the restoration, some from Entergy Arkansas sister companies, some contractors, and some from other utility companies.

Scouts found 727 poles down or broken, 1,296 spans (the space between poles) of wire to be replaced, and another 696 spans that needed fallen trees removed from them.

Entergy Arkansas plans to make significant progress in the restoration through tomorrow, with the majority of customers having power by Friday night. Some of the more difficult cases, however, will carry over through Sunday night.

While the skies have cleared, flooding is a problem in places. For instance, the company has had to take a substation at Pocahontas out of service because of flooding on the Black River.

The biggest concentration of Entergy Arkansas outages is in Garland and Hot Spring Counties, with about 6,000 out of service there. There are just under 500 outages in Pulaski County, and nearly 3,800 in Faulkner County, where a tornado badly damaged the town of Vilonia.
Entergy Arkansas has opened two temporary Customer Information Centers for customers who would like to speak with a company representative face to face. They are in Vilonia and Hot Springs:

Vilonia: Beryl Baptist Church, 873 Hwy 64 East in the Family Life Room, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday.
Hot Springs: Chamber of Commerce office, 659 Ouachita, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday.

Stay away from downed power lines. If you see a power line on the ground and suspect Entergy doesn’t know about it already, call 1-800-9-OUTAGE to report dangerous situations, as well as outages.

Customers are encouraged to sign up for My Account Online at entergy.com where, among other features, they can sign up to receive text messages telling them their power is out and then when it is back on.

Entergy Arkansas provides electricity to 697,000 customers in 63 counties. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and approximately 15,000 employees.

Entergy Arkansas’s online address is entergy-arkansas.com.
Twitter: @EntergyMediaArk