OG&E aims for full power restoration Friday
OG&E officials are looking to have everyone's lights on for the weekend, after a devastating ice storm more than a week ago downed power lines, popped transformers and snapped trees across the state.
“We are still working ,” Spokesman David A Kimmel said. “Our goal is still to get everybody up by Friday night. It's unprecedented for us. It's the worst storm we've had in our company's history, in terms of damage and outages. Even now, we're finding additional damage.”
Kim mel said OG& E has restored power to more than 340,000 customers. Around 3 p.m. Wednesday, about 93,000 outages remained.
The ice storm knocked down more than 1,200 poles.
OG&E continues to discover widespread damage as crews do the “backyard” work of clearing trees and removing debris.
“Even now we're seeing 40% more damage in that phase of restoration than we do in ice storms,” Kimmel said.
Roughly 4,000 responders from 18 different states have worked the outage, Kimmel said.
On Monday, a worker with Iowa-based Mid American Energy was reported critically injured while working near NW 23 and Villa Avenue.
“Our co-worker remains in critical condition, but is receiving top-notch medical care in Oklahoma City,” MidAmerican Spokesman Geoff Greenwood said in an email. “On behalf of MidAmerican, our employees and his family, we want to thank Oklahomans for joining with us in offering up their support and prayers.”
In working the i ce storm and its aftermath here, MidAmerican is returning a summer favor by OG&E.
Line crews wit hOG& E assisted with restoration efforts in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Isaias and the derecho storm that hit the Midwest.