Utility Trucks Flood Into Tulsa To Help Get Power Restored

Power companies say it could take several days to get the lights back on for everyone.

Nearly 24 hours after damaging winds cut off the power, PSO and OG&E say a total of 60,000 customers are still without power. Some customers are straddling the line between "being in the dark" and 'having power."

News On 6 employee Scott Brooks was off Wednesday, but he was still working up a sweat at home.

"We have power, but we don't have air conditioning," Brooks said.

Only half of his house has power after damage to the transformer in his backyard.

"What are you going to do? It was kind of humorous. Reaction was kind of like, 'Oh, here we go again,'" Brooks said.

7/24/2013 Related Story: PSO Crews Working To Restore Power To Tens Of Thousands In Tulsa Area

He said the electrician told him the house has two power lines coming in, and one is dead. So some things work, while others don't. The kitchen lights aren't working, the microwave is off, but the refrigerator and appliances nearby are doing great.

Brooks' partial headache is a full-blown pain for thousands of others.

At the worst of it, 105,000 PSO and OG&E customers in Tulsa, Wagoner, Creek, Osage and Rogers Counties had no power.

Crews are dealing with snapped power poles, downed transmission lines and homes that lost the power line connection entirely.

Chainsaw crews near 21st and Yale had to chop up a huge tree laying on the power line. A grass fire sparked when the line touched down.

Utility crews are working hard to get service back to everyone.

"Those are the type of things we're looking to do right now, is to make the fixes that bring on most customers at any one time," said Stan Whiteford, with PSO.

Brooks isn't worried about when the rest of the power will be restored to his home.

"Absolutely, I think I'm in the lucky class, because we have TV, we have fans, we have a refrigerator, our food is not going to go bad--we're fine," he said.

Extra workers from other power companies are in the Tulsa area now, helping local crews. About a hundred trucks are using the parking lot at the fairgrounds as a staging area.

PSO says, worst case scenario, it could take until Sunday evening to restore power to every single customer. However, the majority of customers will be restored much sooner than that.

See updated outage information for PSO

See updated outage information for OG&E