Power companies in Louisiana are working to keep the lights on after the fiercest winter storm we've had in years.
The storm knocked out power across the state, and similar to hurricanes, restoration work had to wait until winds laid down below 35 miles per hour, said John Hawkins with Entergy. And similar to post-hurricane outages, line workers from around the region are in to help.
"In addition to our CLECO resources, we secured nearly 400 contractors to assist with power restoration and debris cleanup," said CLECO's Jennifer Cahill. "They're coming from Florida and Texas and we have some local in Louisiana."
Entergy and CLECO are also asking customers to conserve usage, to avoid overtaxing the system and prompting rolling blackouts, but that comes too late for southwestern Louisiana, where rolling blackouts are being used.
"This is all due to the extreme cold temperatures, and with our load forecasts, they have reached an all-time peak for us," said Entergy's Hawkins.
