Complete Real Time Record Of SWEPCO Power Being Restored

It was approximately 1:40 am on Friday, June 16, when the Shreveport/Bossier area along with a large swath of East Texas were hit with straight line winds approaching 80 miles per hour.

Get our free mobile app

Brett Mattison, President and COO of SWEPCO says that the destruction was much like that of a hurricane and was "the worst he's ever seen" in our immediate area.

Literally, hundreds of power poles and transformers were demolished leaving an estimated 250,000 SWEPCO customers without electricity. All this amidst a record heat wave for much of the area.

So, exactly where are we now? Approximately 3,000 additional linemen from all over the country were summoned to the area for the massive undertaking of restoring power to so many.

This Power Outage Has Caused The Death Of Someone Here To Help Us

We learned late last night that commitment from those outside personnel has come at the highest cost with the heat-related death of a West Virginia lineman who's unresponsive body was discovered in his hotel room yesterday.

But, what many have found fascinating is watching the progress of the actual restoration. Most have been glued to their phones for text messages from SWEPCO regarding their power outage and watching the "SWEPCO Outage Map" to see which areas have recently gotten power back.

Being somewhat a numbers geek, I've made some notes regarding those numbers and it's been interesting to see the "ebbs and flows" of the restoration.  It's interesting to see how those numbers fall and rise.

What Causes Those Numbers To Rise Occasionally?

I've been told by a former lineman that when those numbers rise, it's normally because an area that's been restored has to be shut down again so that work can be done on an adjoining area.

Granted there are some gaps in these reported times, but the progress is obvious from these notes.

Real Time Power Outage SWEPCO Updates

• Friday, June 16 - 6:27 am - 227,412 without power
• Monday, June 19 - 12:36 am - 143,028 without power
• Monday, June 19 - 1:11 am - 141,017 without power
• Monday, June 19 - 1:55 am - 141,066 without power
• Monday, June 19 - 2:27 am - 140,640 without power
• Monday, June 19 - 3:41 am - 138,564 without power
• Monday, June 19 - 4:19 am - 132,797 without power
• Monday, June 19 - 5:04 am - 129,647 without power
• Monday, June 19 - 6:48 am - 130,871 without power
• Monday, June 19 - 7:20 am - 131,016 without power
• Monday, June 19 - 7:32 am - 131,747 without power
• Tuesday, June 20 - 4:00 am - 97,565 without power
• Tuesday, June 20 - 4:17 am - 97,092 without power
• Tuesday, June 20 - 4:56 am - 97,141 without power
• Tuesday, June 20 - 5:07 am - 97,170 without power
• Tuesday, June 20 - 5:16 am - 97,340 without power
• Tuesday, June 20 - 6:16 am - 97,427 without power
• Tuesday, June 20 - 7:11 am - 95,559 without power
• Wednesday, June 21 - 4:30 am - 61,642 without power
• Wednesday, June 21 - 5:25 am - 61,727 without power
• Wednesday, June 21 - 6:05 am - 61,671 without power
• Wednesday, June 21 - 7:13 am - 62,815 without power
• Wednesday, June 21 - 8:56 am - 61,102 without power
• Wednesday, June 21 - 9:33 am - 59,807 without power
• Wednesday, June 21 - 9:55 am -  59,051 without power

Just looking at the progress, you can sense the excitement and gratitude from those whose power had just been restored.  And what a statement about how relatively quickly this has come to be.

In about six days, SWEPCO crews have restored electricity to 168,361 customers by my count.  THANK YOU!  Those of us who've gotten our power back appreciate your dedication and hope that all customers will have power returned in the next day or two.