Electric power in most areas hit by the Tuesday night severe weather in Oklahoma was expected to be restored Thursday evening by OG&E. But outages in the Oklahoma City metro were predicted to continue through Friday.
The company stated Thursday it anticipated a full return of power by 5 p.m. Thursday in Fort Smith, Arkansas and 6 p.m. in Kellyville and Sapulpa. The utility stated all other regions including North Metro OKC and East Metro OKC would remain without power “well into tomorrow”, meaning Friday.
Every OG&E district in Oklahoma and Arkansas was impacted by the severe storms that moved through OG&E’s service area Tuesday night and this morning. As of 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, approximately 86% of customers who experienced an outage have been restored, with approximately 12,000 remaining without service.
There are 1,300 OG&E operations personnel restoring service to individual homes and businesses that can accept power, and they will continue to work around the clock until power is fully restored. Simultaneously, crews are still working on grid repairs – replacing poles and lines, repairing damage to substations, circuits and equipment.
OG&E stated that once its crews repair the power grid, “we prioritize restoration for the community’s essential services, such as hospitals, police stations, fire departments, public works and other critical infrastructure. As those facilities come online, operations personnel will focus on neighborhoods, individual homes and businesses experiencing an outage.”
Temperatures through the weekend are forecasted to be very high for many communities in OG&E’s service area. The utility urged people to visit OGE.com/CoolZones for a list of cooling centers and check on family, friends and neighbors to make sure they have a plan to stay cool during the heat.
Following storms, OG&E will bring tree and brush debris to the curb; however, customers are responsible for removing the debris. City and county resources for debris removal may be available and vary by community.
