Over 100,000 people have been left without power following storms that hit East Texas on Thursday and Friday.
Beginning on Thursday night, an EF-1 tornado touched down in Panola County, Texas, and reached as far as Caddo Parish, Louisiana, per The Longview News-Journal. The tornado, which the National Weather Service in Shreveport estimated to be nearly half a mile wide with peak winds of 110 mph, along with various storms, resulted in many people losing power to their homes.
An estimated 250,000 Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) customers were left without power for some time, per The Longview Journal. As of 3 p.m. on Monday, SWEPCO announced in a press release that roughly 138,000 customers have had their service restored, while an estimated 112,000 still do not have power.
Over 50 transmission lines, which help carry and deliver power, were forced out of service due to weather in the impacted areas. SWEPCO President and COO Brett Mattison said this is the most damage he has seen a storm inflict on transmission lines.
“This is the worst transmission impacted storm I’ve ever seen in my career, and it’s the worst one we’ve had at SWEPCO,” said Mattison, per the press release.
Although restoration crews have made significant progress since the storm, SWEPCO estimates that some areas may not have power until June 24. With an impending heat wave expected across Texas, a lack of power is uncomfortable and even dangerous.
“It’s been unbearable,” said Leigh Johnson, a Mount Vernon resident who’s been without power for roughly four days, per NBC 5 DFW. “It’s been horrible because it’s like, the heat index has been so bad that literally, we’re having to sit in the cold baths to cool ourselves down. Our animals as well, we’re having to stick them in the bathtub just to keep them from having a heat stroke, it’s been that bad.”
To help ease the impact of the power outage, organizations such as Brookshire’s Grocery in Mount Vernon have been handing out water, ice, and other goods to those affected.
“Without the ice, they’re going to lose everything that they have in the refrigerators and freezers. So it’s critical just for them to be able to survive right now get some ice, water, and food,” said Sandra Miller, VP district manager for district 2 of the Brookshire Grocery Company, per NBC. “Just talking to many of the customers as they’ve been coming through, they’ve been thankful that they don’t have to grill today out in the heat.”
Miller is hoping to make a difference in people’s lives by doing anything possible to help ease people through the outage.
“It’s really tough and what we’re doing is relatively small to what they’re going through,” she said, reported NBC. “But we’re hoping it makes a difference in their life today and tomorrow and each day that we were able to do it.”