SWEPCO Repair Crews Could Total 3,000 [VIDEO]

SWEPCO's Michael Corbin talks about the massive power outages and how soon electricity can be restored after Hurricane Laura moves out of the ArkLaTex.

The storm, which ravaged major portions of the state, has put around 400,000 across Louisiana in the dark following winds that, in the Lake Charles area, exceeded 130 mph.

"Our service area hugs the Louisiana, Texas coast and we have a lot of rural areas down there," Corbin says, "That's a challenge for making live repairs because the circuits sometimes run for miles and they're in heavily wooded areas."

Corbin adds that the last minute eastward turn of the storm kept a significant number of folks in the Shreveport, Bossier area with the lights on. He then gives details about when SWEPCO repairs can begin  "For safety reasons, our crews can't get to work until the winds drop down to thirty miles per hour or below. The lion's share of the work could start later this afternoon in the southern parts of our district in the DeRidder, Mansfield and Many areas. But, by and large, the big work will start tomorrow."

"We have more than twenty three hundred workers coming in from other utility companies across the country," he continues, saying that there will be nearly three thousand total workers making repairs."

And how long til service is restored? "It really depends on how bad the damage is," Corbin says, "We are telling people to prepare for up to five to seven day outage. We hope it's not that long and the damage isn't that severe."