Alabama Power continues to make progress
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, July 13, 2005
REGION-Only two days after Hurricane Dennis made landfall Alabama Power has restored service to 87 percent of customers who lost power. As of 11 a.m., 31,426 customers remained without power statewide, down from a peak of 241,214.
Much success has also been seen in the Black Belt. Tuesday, Alabama Power said they hoped to have electricity in the Tuscaloosa area restored by end of the day. This area included Greensboro, Aliceville and Demopolis. While they hoped to have power restored before Wednesday they asked customers to understand the area had received more damage than many other areas and parts of each town could take longer.
Audrey Vaughn, a representative of Alabama Power, said things have been moving very fast.
“Our workers have done a phenomenal job,” Vaughn said. “There are still a few trouble spots, but we are taking care of them.”
Vaughn said the situation had improved dramatically since Sunday night.
“Things are looking pretty good,” Vaughn said. “We are trying to get everyone going again as quickly as we can.”
In Demopolis the problem of power outages had been almost completely resolved. Only 17 were without power at 2 p.m. Tuesday and all were hoped to be restored by noon Wednesday.
As for the rest of the state, numbers were dwindling quickly. In Alabama Powers Western Division, which includes Sumter, Greene, Hale and parts of Marengo Counties only 3,617 were without power at 11 a.m. Tuesday. This number was down from Monday’s initial figure of 21,083.
In the Southern Division, which includes Perry County, the success had been even greater. Numbers for the Southern Division had been drastically reduced to 4,737 from Monday’s 45,675.
This was mostly due to a widespread effort of workers from all over the country. At the height of the restoration effort, Alabama Power had more than 6,248 outside workers from 29 states and Canada committed to getting the lights on. They came from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, Texas, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Wisconsin, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Kentucky, New York, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Kansas, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and New Brunswick, Canada.
Alabama Power said they hoped to have 99 percent of customers electricity restored by noon Wednesday. In addition to power, all reservoirs will return to normal summer levels by Wednesday.