Greenwell Springs, LA - The severe weather, rain and winds from hurricane Laura continue to pass through DEMCO service areas. Although current damage to the DEMCO system is minimal, members should remain on alert for strong weather bands and the threat of tornados, and additional outages, due to their impact.

“Damage to our system so far has been minimal and we haven’t been finding much damage that causes long restoration times such as broken poles,” says Ryan Vandersypen, vice president of engineering and operations. “Restoration is now completed to members along Reinninger Road (Hwy 1023) in Watson and on Greenwell Springs Road (Hwy 37) in Pride.”

Outages by Parish Reported at 9:00:24, below:

Current outages and restoration progress can be viewed at DEMCO.org.

“When a major outage occurs, DEMCO line crews work through a “Powering Up” process to pinpoint problems,” says David Latona, vice president of marketing and member services.

Latona explains, that following standard utility practice for repairing and energizing power lines, DEMCO first inspects transmission towers and lines, since they supply power to substations which serve thousands of members. These repairs are necessary before other parts of the system can operate. Next, local distribution substations are examined and repaired; each substation serves hundreds or thousands of members, and correcting issues at this level can restore power quickly to a large number of members.

“If you have experienced an outage please report it on our website at DEMCO.org or by calling 1-844-MyDEMCO – that’s 844-693-3626,” says Latona.