AEP Texas crews have made significant progress in responding to outages caused by the storms that have battered the Laredo area since Monday.   As of 5 p.m., approximately 1,470 Laredo residents remained without power.

Estimated restoration times were projected for 10 p.m. tonight previously.  However, due to the multiple storms over the past few days, service restoration may not be completed before 4 p.m. on Friday for some customers.  Most customers will see their service returned much earlier.   

"The situation has been frustrating in that we would make progress restoring customers impacted by one storm only to have another storm follow and undo those efforts," said Ron Wells, AEP Texas manager of Distribution Systems.  "We reduced the number of customers without power to 1,700 as compared to the original 37,000 residents who lost power as a result of the first storm.   Then, a new thunderstorm storm blows in and knocks additional customers offline.  This morning there were winds estimated at over 70-miles-per-hour at one point.  Nearby, there were reports of an 18-wheeler that pulled off the road, but the winds still knocked the vehicle on its side." 

Wells emphasized that crews initially focused on addressing electric hazards caused by high winds.  Those efforts were hampered by lightening, which made conditions unsafe for crews to get out.    Approximately 50 additional personnel traveled to Laredo to help restore power, and more have been requested. 

The storms have impacted all of the southern part of the AEP Texas service territory; however, Laredo sustained the most damage.  Crews are working to replace or repair 44 utility poles and 11 transformers.

"Customer support has been incredible," Wells said.  "We are going to continue working until we restore power to everyone.  Assuming there are no additional storms, the challenge then becomes the many outages that affect only one or two customers.  We are going to get to everyone, but that increases the amount of time required."  

Click here to view information about specific outages both in and outside Laredo.