July 4th severe weather that hit central Oklahoma left tens of thousands of customers of Oklahoma Gas and Electric without power. The same for customers of Public Service Company of Oklahoma.
Winds were estimated at 90 mph and damaged utility equipment in Norman, Oklahoma City, Moore, Sulphur, Holdenville and Midwest City.
OG&E said within 14 hours of the storms, approximately 49% of the customers had power restored while another 31,000 were without power as of Sunday afternoon. The utility said operations personnel were restoring service to homes and businesses that could accept power and additional crews were deployed to the most heavily impacted areas to clear debris, inspect damage and make equipment repairs.
On Sunday, OG&E said that given the damage from the high winds and lightning, it anticipated full power restoration might not occur for 3 to 4 days. A Sunday press release said crews would continue restoring power and working around the clock until all customers are restored.
PSO’s major damage was in the Tulsa, Nowata and Bartlesville areas and as of Sunday afternoon, assessments of the damage were still taking place.
PSO is responding to weather-related outages across our service area, specifically in the Tulsa, Nowata and Bartlesville areas. Due to the level of damage, assessments are still taking place.
At 12:00 p.m. Sunday, 5,674 customers remain without power. At the height of the storm customer outages peaked at 24,522.
PSO warned customers and others to assume any downed line is energized, stay away from the line, and do not touch it with anything. Call 1-833-776-6884 (1-833-PSO-OUTG) to report an outage or safety hazard such as downed lines, broken poles, or trees that have fallen on power lines.
PSO is coordinating with local emergency management authorities and will continue to provide updates as the situation unfolds. If you have questions related to your PSO power, call 1-833-776-7697 (1-833-PSO-POWR) or visit our website at psoklahoma.com/outages.
Outages
- PSO crews and business partners are working to restore power safely and quickly. Once damage assessments are completed, estimates of restoration times for remaining outages will be available.
Storm Restoration
- PSO has more than 500 line workers, forestry personnel and support staff working to restore power and traveling to support restoration needs.
- PSO continually prepares for all types of weather throughout the year and regularly conducts storm drills to ensure the PSO team is ready to respond immediately.
Restoration Efforts Include Peer Electric Companies reports OG&E
- We understand how important it is for our customers to have power. Our crews have been and will continue to work around the clock until power is fully restored. OG&E has requested restoration crews from our peer electric companies across the region. With severe storms causing outages from Missouri to New England, much of the country is facing similar storm impacts this weekend.
- Once we’ve repaired the power grid, we focus on restoring the community’s essential services, such as hospitals, public safety, fire departments, public works, and other critical infrastructure, while continuing to restore individual homes and businesses.
- Norman area: There are two reported downed power lines in the Norman area – one across I-35 and another at 36th Ave. NW and W. Main. Both lines are owned and maintained by Oklahoma Electric Cooperative (OEC), not OG&E.
Guidance for Customers
- Assume any downed power line is hazardous and may be energized. Stay away from them and anything they are touching. Please do not drive over a downed power line. Report a downed power line by calling 800-522-6870.
- Extreme temperatures are expected today with the heat index reaching over 100. Please visit OGE.com/CoolZones for a list of public spaces to get a break from the heat. Please check on family, friends and neighbors to make sure they have a plan to stay cool during the heat.
- The public should avoid areas impacted by the storms so crews can work safely and quickly to restore power to customers who are without service.
- As we clear tree limbs that are interfering with power lines and have damaged equipment, vegetation crews will take tree and brush debris from the customer’s yard to the curb but are unable to remove this debris from the customer’s property.
- OG&E customers can quickly report and monitor outages:
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- Submit a report online at OGE.com/outages or in the OG&E mobile (available on iOS and Android)
- Sign up for myOGEalerts at OGE.com/alerts
- Our crews may need to gain access to your property to restore power. Please ensure our crews have access and that you secure any animals.
- Customers need to be able to take power at their homes and businesses and may need a certified electrician to repair a weather head, meter base, or service cable.
