WEST MONROE, La. – As of 3 p.m., Entergy crews have restored power to all but fewer than 300 north Louisiana customers, including approximately 250 in the hardest hit area around the city of Homer, who lost electrical service Tuesday in the wake of a severe thunderstorm system that swept through the region.

Crews continue to work as safely and quickly as possible and anticipate restoring electrical service by 9 p.m. to almost all customers who can receive power. A small number of isolated outage cases resulting from the most severe damage may carry over until Friday.

A severe thunderstorm system caused damage to Entergy’s electrical system in north Louisiana Tuesday, most heavily impacting the Homer area. Poles were downed, cross arms were broken, transformers were damaged and more than 200 spans of wire were knocked down by the storms, causing power outages that affected more than 14,000 customers across north Louisiana at peak.

Additional Entergy employees and contract workers traveled from other service areas in the state to bolster north Louisiana restoration efforts, with more than 140 crews concentrated in the Homer region.

As always, safety is a priority for Entergy throughout the restoration process, and Customers are urged also to make safety their priority and stay away from downed power lines.

Restoration of electric facilities in severe storm damaged regions is dangerous work. “We understand our customers have questions about the status of their service and ask that they please refrain from distracting crews from their work, as this not only slows restoration progress but can also imperil employees’ and customers’ safety,” said Jeff Aycock, regional customer service manager for Entergy Louisiana’s north region.

Entergy representatives are available to answer customer questions face-to-face at a customer information center in Homer, La., at the Claiborne Parish Police Jury Building, located at 507 W. Main St. The center is open today until 7 p.m. and, based on current restoration estimates, will not re-open tomorrow.

If customers see a downed power line or broken equipment and suspect Entergy doesn''t know about it already, they should call 1-800-9OUTAGE. “Customers should also call this number if their neighbors’ power has been restored, or if they received a text alert saying power has been restored, but their electrical service is still out,” said Aycock.

Customers can access current outage information down to the street level by going to entergy-louisiana.com and clicking on “View Outages”. Customers can also sign up for text alerts notifying them of outages and power restoration progress by registering online at entergy-louisiana.com or by texting to number 368374 with the Entergy account number and ZIP code in the message. Text messages may result in a charge to you by your wireless provider.

Entergy’s Louisiana utility companies serve more than one million customers through the operating companies Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. With operations in southern, central and northeastern Louisiana, the companies are part of Entergy Corporation’s electric system serving 2.8 million customers in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas.

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