After making landfall in Creole, Louisiana, late Friday afternoon as a Category 2 hurricane, Delta has weakened significantly as the remnants of the storm continue to move eastward, according to the Edison Electric Institute. As of 5 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 11, about 364,000 customers were without power as a result of Delta in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, down from a peak of nearly 824,000 on Saturday.
In areas where damage assessments are complete and it is safe for them to work, crews are working around the clock to restore power as quickly as possible, with nearly 460,000 customers—or 56 percent—restored in less than 48 hours after the storm came ashore. Electric companies in the path of Delta started to prepare last week by prepositioning crews, resources, and equipment to respond to any power outages when and where they can, provided it is safe to do so.
More than 18,500 workers from at least 20 states already are mobilized to help impacted companies restore power to customers. Industry and government are coordinating at the highest levels through the CEO-led Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC) to ensure an effective and efficient response. The ESCC convened a second call with impacted investor-owned electric companies, public power utilities, electric cooperatives, and senior officials from the Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security to receive an update on Delta and to ensure that all equipment and workforce needs are being met.
For example, more than 170 CenterPoint Energy linemen, contractors and support personnel departed on Saturday morning for East Texas and Louisiana to assist Entergy Texas and Entergy Louisiana with power outage restoration resulting from Hurricane Delta.
“Our thoughts are with those in communities who have been impacted by Hurricane Delta, many of which were devastated by Hurricane Laura only weeks ago,” said Randy Pryor, Vice President of Distribution Operations of CenterPoint Energy. “Our dedicated teams will work 12- to 16-hour days to help restore electric service as safely and quickly as possible.”
CenterPoint Energy is part of electric utility mutual assistance programs that provide access to thousands of linemen and tree trimmers from around the country to lend a hand during widespread power outage emergencies. CenterPoint Energy has been the beneficiary of this assistance several times. After Hurricane Harvey, the company received the assistance of thousands of workers from 20 states, who helped the company’s crews restore power to customers within 10 days. Over the years, CenterPoint Energy crews have restored power to hundreds of thousands of customers throughout the country who were left in the dark following hurricanes, ice storms, tornadoes and severe thunderstorms.
