All power might not be restored until Friday, Entergy says

8:36 A.M. UPDATE:

Entergy Arkansas Inc. says it may be noon Friday before all power is restored following severe thunderstorms Wednesday evening.

The strong thunderstorms that moved through Garland County Wednesday night caused power outages to about 7,800 customers in the Hot Springs and Garland County area, Jim Garland, Entergy's regional customer service manager, said Thursday morning.

"We now estimate it will be around noon tomorrow (Friday) before all power is restored in our area," Garland said, adding he expects to release an updated estimate later in the day. "Entergy appreciates our customers' patience and attention to safety during the repair work."

The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen
A tree rests on a power line at the corner of Lancaster and Kleinshore Thursday morning following severe thunderstorms on Wednesday evening.
The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen A tree rests on a power line at the corner of Lancaster and Kleinshore Thursday morning following severe thunderstorms on Wednesday evening.

The largest outages were in southwest Hot Springs along Central Avenue/Highway 7 south and western Hot Springs in the Piney area, Garland said.

"We also had significant outages in north Garland County around Jessieville and the northern part of Hot Springs Village.

"Entergy’s local crews worked through the night repairing power lines," he said.

By 6 a.m. crews had restored power to about 4,000 customers. As of 8 a.m., there were still about 3,800 customers without power.

"We are securing additional outside line crews and vegetation crews to assist with the restoration effort," Garland said.


6 A.M. UPDATE:

More than 3,600 Entergy Arkansas Inc. customers remained without power Thursday morning following severe thunderstorms Wednesday night.

Entergy, on its online outage site, said the storms resulted in "significant damage" to its facilities.

"Storm activity in your area has caused significant damage to our facilities resulting in extensive power outages. Crews are working to repair the damage but we do not currently expect to have your service restored overnight," the site said.

"At this time, we cannot reliably predict when your power will be restored. We will provide an estimated restoration time and other information about your outage as soon as we are able to safely assess the damages. We apologize for this inconvenience."

At one point, more than 7,000 outages were reported Wednesday night.


Original article:

More than 6,400 outages were being reported in Garland County Wednesday night after severe thunderstorms moved through the area, according to Arkansas Entergy Inc.

Entergy's online outage map showed several large areas without power, including the north and south shore areas of Lake Hamilton around the Highway 7 bridges and causeway, extending eastward to Carpenter Dam Road, and the Thornton Ferry Road area.

"Due to the thunderstorms along with the high winds that have and continue to move through the area we are experiencing numerous outages," Entergy said on the website.

"Entergy personnel are working to restore service as quickly as safely possible. At this time, we estimate that all service will be restored" by 9 a.m. Thursday.

The estimated time of restoration could change as all damage assessments are completed or if other storm activity results in additional outages, the website said.

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