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WET WEATHER, GUSTS TRIGGER MORE THE 9,000 POWER OUTAGES; SOME SCHOOLS SHUT DOWN

By Ezra Mann/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, September 4, 2008 10:04 AM CDT

While the Gulf Coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas were hit by the brunt of Hurricane Gustav, the remnants of the storm caused more than 9,000 power outages in Jefferson County by 8 a.m. Wednesday, said Regina Montgomery, customer service specialist for Entergy Arkansas said.

Due to a change in the path of Gustav, Arkansas took an indirect hit and power restoration for all those impacted by the storm may not be completed until 6 p.m. Friday, added Montgomery. Entergy was recalling some 200 Arkansas linemen and 150 support personnel that had been sent to help repair expected damage along the Gulf Coast, Entergy added.

Nearly 93,000 customers in the state were without power and even though some repairs were made Wednesday, much of the activity will involve advance workers scouting damage so resources can be used effectively, the utility said. The transmission system in Louisiana, which Entergy Arkansas is interconnected, sustained extensive damage resulting in 850,000 outages which is second to only Hurricane Katrina in number of Entergy customers impacted by a natural disaster.

Some schools may be getting an extended break as a result of the power loss with all crews not available.

Pine Bluff’s Belair Middle School and Southwood Elementary School experienced outages, though Belair was expected to continue classes with enough light coming into the windows and Southwood students were relocated to the gymnasium at W.T. Cheney Elementary School until at least 2:45 p.m., said Frank Anthony, superintendent for the Pine Bluff School District.

Breakfast was served at the schools and provisions were made to serve sack lunches at both schools and additional decisions will be made if any more problems develop, added Anthony.

Dollarway School District closed for the day due to power outages on three of six campuses, Superintendent Thomas Gathen said.

The Watson Chapel School District reported no outages and no problems other than a few leaks. Bill Tietz, facilities director for Watson Chapel, said other than a few tree limbs in the roadway and some high water there were no major delays.

Jefferson County employees who arrived for work at the County Courthouse Wednesday morning were sent home after housekeeping and maintenance staff, who had arrived at 3 a.m., discovered there was no electrical service.

“We had to close the courthouse because we didn’t have any power and Entergy told me it would be late Wednesday afternoon at the earliest before we could get the power back,” County Judge Mike Holcomb said. “Entergy said they only had one crew in Pine Bluff right now and if we did get the power, then we would have to figure out how to get the people back to work.”

The judge said crews from the County Road Department spent the morning checking reports of downed trees and road conditions and reported nothing of significance.

“We had a couple of trees down in the Sherrill area, and out on Highway 104 but I’m not aware of any major damage anywhere,” Holcomb said. “I went out to Island Harbor and there was a little water on the road but the way it was raining, it just ran right off so there was no problem there.”

A number of traffic signals in Pine Bluff were without power following the storm.

Entergy Arkansas’ James Thompson, said that by mid-day Wednesday, the outages were down to about 88,000. He reported outages of 7,200 in Malvern, 7,000 in Russellville, and 6,600 in Pine Bluff.

Commercial staff writer Ray King and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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