Updated: Sept. 16, 2 p.m. ET
Electric cooperatives in Louisiana and Mississippi have restored power to tens of thousands of members after Hurricane Francine slammed into the Gulf Coast last week, bringing strong winds and flooding rains.
The Category 2 hurricane quickly weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall in Louisiana about 5 p.m. CT on Sept. 11, but it brought widespread flooding as it moved north through Mississippi the next day.
DEMCO in Baton Rouge, the largest distribution co-op in Louisiana, reported 37,700 outages after the storm hit, but that number had plummeted to about 400 by Monday afternoon. The co-op serves 117,640 meters.
“Restoring power is no small task, and it takes an entire team working together to make it happen,” the co-op said on its Facebook page. “While our linemen are the most visible, it’s the combined effort of countless others that truly brings success.
“We’re also incredibly grateful for the support of our co-op members. You’ve been prayerful, encouraging, and patient throughout this entire process. Your understanding and positive energy have been felt by every person working to restore power.”
South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association in Houma was hit the hardest, experiencing a complete system outage affecting 16,442 members immediately after the hurricane struck, according to the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives. With the help of mutual aid crews from other co-ops, SLECA had restored power to all but about 300 meters by Monday afternoon.
Washington-St. Tammany Electric Cooperative in Franklinton was reporting roughly 23,770 outages of its 50,000-plus meters last Thursday, but it had restored power to all its members by Saturday.
Mutual aid crews from co-ops in Arkansas, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas streamed into Louisiana to help restore power. Louisiana co-ops that were not affected by the storm also sent line crews to assist their neighbors.
In Mississippi, as of Monday afternoon, electric co-ops had restored power to nearly all of the 40,000 members who initially lost power, according to co-ops’ outage maps.
“Thank you for your tremendous support for our team!” East Mississippi Electric Power Association told members in a Facebook post.
Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.