Related Links Press Releases SLEMCO POWER Magazine

SLEMCO Hurricane Rita power restoration complete: clean-up and damage repair begin

“Every SLEMCO customer who could be connected at their home or business had their power restored by late Friday,” says SLEMCO Communications Manager Mary Laurent. “Other locations, particularly in Vermilion and Acadia parishes, suffered structural damage that they must repair before their power can be reconnected.”

“Our hurricane operations have made a definite switch from power restoration to repair and clean-up,” she added.

Crews hailing from as far away as Michigan and New Hampshire will be working with SLEMCO employees to strengthen repairs made immediately after Hurricane Rita so that the electrical system will remain sound and intact for the long haul.

Some 700 workers, including SLEMCO office personnel and 74 crews specializing in line construction and right-of-way clearing from throughout the nation, worked together to bring power back to SLEMCO members as quickly and as safely as possible.

No major injuries were reported by anyone working to restore power for SLEMCO. Only first aid injuries—cuts, scrapes and bruises resulted from the work on the SLEMCO system.

SLEMCO was well prepared for Hurricane Rita. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina made landfall earlier this summer in eastern Louisiana and Mississippi, SLEMCO placed orders for materials that would be needed to restore power, should a storm hit the Acadiana area.   

Nearly 29,000 phone calls were fielded by live operators during the six day process. Another 13,207 were fielded from SLEMCO’s electronic outage reporting system.

Any SLEMCO member who needs power to be restored after completing repairs to a home or business is asked to call the service department at 337-896-5551. Additionally, any SLEMCO customer who knows it will be an extended amount of time before power can be restored to their home or business is also asked to call the service department at 337-896-5551 to make arrangements to temporarily close out their account and avoid a monthly service charge when no power is being used.

9/30/05

For more information, contact SLEMCO's Mary Laurent at 337-896-2520.