Tens of thousands of SWEPCO customers were left without power today as a result of the snowfall.

Company spokesman Scott McCloud told KEEL News the snow has been piling up on top of trees, which are sagging into power lines. He says the biggest problem has been to our west.

"We're seeing a lot of circuits that are locking out, especially in east Texas," he said. "We have about 2,500 customers out in Louisiana, but we're experiencing about 13,000 outages over in the east Texas area."

Since I talked with McCloud, those numbers jumped even higher, with nearly 20,000 out in east Texas. He said the problem is worse with snow than sleet.

"Sleet bounces. The snow, now that the front has slowed down...it's not as quick as this front that came through on Monday. That one roared through here. We had some icing and some sleet, but it didn't stay long enough," McCloud said. "This, it slowed down, it's building up on the trees. And so we've got to wait out to see when it can finally warm up enough to get it off the trees and power lines, and then we can really start to make some repairs."

The snow continues to fall, but it is already starting to drop off of trees and lines. McCloud said once crews can get the circuits clear, they'll start getting power back on to thousands of customers at a time.

McCloud said extra workers will come in from unaffected areas, if necessary.

CLICK HERE for the latest SWEPCO outage information.

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