Oklahoma Gas and Electric crews in central Oklahoma managed to restore power to 94% of the firm’s customers following the Sunday morning tornadoes that left nearly 40 homes and structures destroyed.
As of mid-day Monday, about 9,000 customers were still without electrical power.
The same storm also damaged OG&E’s Horshoe Lake Power center located in eastern Oklahoma County. However, a company announcement indicated there were no concerns with the power supply for the energy grid in the service area.
Crews responded early Sunday morning and since then, managed to restsore power to 67,000 customers who experienced outages. New storms that raced through the Oklahoma City metro Monday morning resulted in new outages but an OG&E update indicated 92% of services to public works, schools, hospitals and public schools were restored quickly.
As of Monday, more than 1,000 OG&E restoration personnel were repairing the grid and restoring service. The utility explained that once the power grid is repaired, it prioritizes restoration for the community’s essential services, like hospitals, public safety and water treatment facilities and schools. As those facilities come online, OGE crews will turn attention to individual homes and businesses experiencing an outage.
The utility suffered extensive damage from the storms including more than 209 broken power poles, 68 broken cross arms, 70 transformers and damage to 64 transmission structures and other equipment.
Canadian Valley Electric Coopoerative crews, headquartered in Seminole, had a similar challenge in restoring power to more than 3,000 customers.
A release from the cooperative explained crews worked to replace approximately 30 damaged poles and repair power lines and conductor.
