Power Outage Numbers Growing

Monday, December 10th 2007, 6:18 am

By: News On 6

An ice storm warning continues for most of northeastern Oklahoma for Monday. Freezing drizzle continues to fall across much of the region. The storm is causing a number of power outages across northeastern Oklahoma. Electric utilities say over 400,000 customers across Oklahoma are without power Monday morning. Hundreds of utility crews have been working since Sunday to restore power, but as more ice continues to accumulate on power lines, the number of outages continues to grow.

Oklahoma Gas & Electric, the state's largest utility, reported 215,000, outages Monday morning while Public Service Company of Oklahoma reported more than 200,000 outages in northeastern Oklahoma. Northeast Electric reported just under 8,000 outages in the Vinita area. Verdigris Valley Electric reported 9,000 outages along with 130 poles down.

In the Tulsa area, PSO is reporting at over 180,000 customers without power. In Bartlesville, PSO says 7,800 customers are without service. In Vinita, 6,800 PSO customers are impacted. In Grove, 2,300 PSO customers are without service, and in Chouteau, 2,800 customers are in the dark.

Utility officials say they have requested help from utilities in neighboring states to send crews to help restore service.

Watch the video: PSO Talks About Ice Storm Response

And the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives reports about 25,000 rural electric customers without power across northeastern Oklahoma.