Insights > Entergy Texas Evening Restoration Evening Update – Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020 @ 5 p.m.

Entergy Texas Evening Restoration Evening Update – Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020 @ 5 p.m.

09/02/2020

Hurricane Laura

 September 2, 2020
Wednesday, 5:00 p.m.

TEXAS

As of 5:00 p.m., Entergy Texas has 15,649 customers without power compared to the peak of 291,300 customers. This reflects that 275,651 customers have been restored since the peak of the storm.

Entergy Texas crews were successful in restoring an additional 5,000 customers today in the Port Arthur, Port Neches, Groves, and Orange areas. We expect that we will restore approximately another 7,000 customers tonight. While crews continue to restore power, Entergy Texas expects to carryover approximately 8,000 customers, primarily in the Orange area, till tomorrow.

Today and tonight, crews will continue to work in the Port Arthur, Groves, Orange, Vidor, Little Cypress, Mauriceville, Pinehurst, and West Orange areas.  Tomorrow crews will concentrate on all remaining customers in the Little Cypress, Orange, Pinehurst, West Orange, Cove, and portion of Bridge City areas.

Crews are also repairing substations and the transmission system that serves Orange and surrounding area. The transmission system is the backbone of the electric grid and helps Entergy move power from the power plant to the lines serving customers’ neighborhoods.

All remaining customers without power in Port Arthur, Nederland, Port Neches and Groves will be restored by tonight. We still expect the Orange area to be fully complete by September 4.

Orange and Surrounding Areas

As of 5:00 p.m., 14,984 customers in the Orange and surrounding areas are without power.

The largest group of crews will be working the remainder of today and tomorrow in the following areas:

  • McLewis Substation - I-10 and Highway 62
  • Echo Substation – Little Cypress area,
  • Cordrey Substation – Simmons drive, country club and Pinehurst (I-10)
  • Front Street Substation – downtown and old town north.
  • Winfree Substation – West Orange area

Groves, Nederland, Port Arthur and Port Neches

As of 5:00 p.m., there are 508 customers without power in the areas that include Groves, Port Arthur, and Port Neches. 

Workers will continue making repairs to the distribution system in Groves, Port Neches and Port Arthur areas and all customers are expected to be restored tonight.

Safety Tips

For the safety of our crews, please stay away from their work zones. If you need to report a problem with your service or get bill payment help, we’re just a phone call away: 1-800-ENTERGY.

For additional preparation tips and updates visit www.entergy.com/stormcenter.

As with any weather event, please be mindful of the following safety tips:

  • Live wires can be deadly. Stay away from downed power lines. Call 1 800 9OUTAGE or1 800 968 8243 to report downed or dangling power lines, poles or other damaged equipment.
  • Do not trim trees or remove debris on or near downed power lines. Only power company crews or their contractors should remove trees or limbs touching power lines.
  • Keep away from the immediate areas where crews are working. There is always the danger of moving equipment and the possibility of construction materials or limbs or overhead wires falling to the ground.
  • If you plan on using a generator for temporary power, get a licensed electrician and disconnect from the utility electric system before hooking up to your home main electric panel. 
  • Do not run a generator in a confined space without adequate ventilation.
  • Avoid using candles or other flammable devices to warm your home. 
  • Check on seniors, who can be particularly susceptible to extreme temperatures. 
  • Try to stay off the roads in affected areas. More traffic in bad weather leads to more accidents, including more injuries and fatalities as well as accidents that can damage electrical poles and other equipment, creating outages and impeding the ability of crews to access and repair damage and slowing restoration.

Customer Information

  • Customers who have a new advanced meter installed can check to see if their power is restored by logging into myEntergy. View ‘My Usage” on the dashboard. Select “hourly view” to see their most recent usage which is updated every four to five hours.
  • Customers with property damage may require special action to speed their restoration:
    • If your property has any damage, please turn off the electricity at either the main fuse box or circuit breaker.
    • Call a licensed electrician for advice when necessary. A licensed electrician may need to inspect your property’s electric wiring before Entergy can restore power to a home or business which has water damage from rain or flood waters.
  • For customers without property damage:
    • Property owners without hurricane damage should be cautious.
    • Look for electrical system damage once power is restored. If you see sparks, broken or frayed wires, or the smell of hot insulation is noticeable, turn off the electricity at either the main fuse box or circuit breaker.
    • Call a licensed electrician for advice when necessary. Don’t step in water to get to the fuse box or circuit breaker.
  • Entergy cannot restore power to a location with a damaged meter base, conduit or weather head (the metal pipe extending upward from the structure with electrical cables inside). They must be repaired by a qualified electrician before Entergy can restore power.
  • As we repair damage, we concentrate first on critical services, then major lines to the substations, then to the lines and equipment serving neighborhoods, businesses and homes. Service lines to individual homes and businesses will be restored last because fewer customers are involved. In the case of fewer outages spread over larger areas, it often takes more time to get power back on for them.
  • Responding to a major storm and COVID-19 could affect our response:
    • Along with standard storm preparations, Entergy employees are navigating the COVID-19 pandemic by taking additional steps. These include traveling separately when possible, adjusting crew staging locations and increasing the use of drones.
    • Due to the additional measures crews must take, restoration may take longer, especially where there are widespread outages. Additionally, crews will continue to practice social distancing and we ask that customers do the same. For their safety and yours, please stay away from work zones.

Information Resources

We want to keep you informed and in control so here is the best way to get information about outages in addition to the View Outage application:

  • Download our app for your smartphone at entergy.com/app or visit entergystormcenter.com to stay informed on our restoration progress. Android users who have difficulty accessing the app on their smartphones can get information from the mobile version of our site at entergy.com.
  • Sign up for text alerts by texting REG to 36778 and have your account number and ZIP code handy. The registration pattern is as follows including spaces: REG (account number) (ZIP code). Once registered, text OUT to 36778 to report an outage. You can also report an outage online as a guest.
  • Follow us on Twitter.com/EntergyTX or Facebook.com/EntergyTX.
  • Follow updates in your local news media, like radio, television and newspapers.

Texas Editorial Team