Power outages in Tulsa should be over by Sunday

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ More than 22,000 Oklahoma customers remained without power Friday, utilities reported, as crews continued to work around the clock to repair lines damaged in this week's severe

Wednesday, June 2nd 2004, 3:07 pm

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ More than 22,000 Oklahoma customers remained without power Friday, utilities reported, as crews continued to work around the clock to repair lines damaged in this week's severe storms.

Public Service Co. Of Oklahoma, which had 21,300 outages in eastern Oklahoma, said all of its southeastern Oklahoma customers and all but 10,000 in Tulsa would have power back on by midnight Friday.

``In the Tulsa area, we're currently estimating we will have all customers on who lost service in the June 2 storm by Sunday night, barring new outages, because we do have a chance for more severe weather over the weekend,'' PSO spokesman Ed Bettinger said Friday morning.

PSO had 50 line crews, 45 servicemen and 54 tree crews working 24 hours a day in the Tulsa area, Bettinger said. The utility still had about 1,300 customers in southeastern Oklahoma in the dark, he said.

Oklahoma Gas & Electric had whittled its outages in Sapulpa, Muskogee, Kellyville and Okay down to 1,316 by Friday morning, according the company's Web site.

At the height of the Wednesday storms, more than 100,000 customers of the two utilities were without electricity.

The storms pounded a wide swath of Oklahoma with hail, heavy rains and winds of 80 mph, felling trees, breaking windows and snarling traffic. An Oklahoma County woman died in a car accident Wednesday, but otherwise only minor injuries were reported.

More thunderstorms rumbled across parts of Oklahoma Friday, but they did not appear to be as strong as those that struck Wednesday. Forecasts indicated a chance of severe storms over the weekend in eastern Oklahoma.

About 500 to 600 employees of WilTel Communications Group Inc. were called back to work Friday, spokeswoman Cheena Pazzo said. The building has been determined to be safe, but wind damage limited access to elevators, the company said.

All but 200 of the telecommunications company's workers stayed home Thursday after high winds shattered dozens of exterior windows at its all-glass headquarters in downtown Tulsa.

Streets remained closed around the building Friday, because of broken glass and the risk that more of the giant panes could tumble down to the roadway below. The company hopes to have its full work force back in place by early next week, officials say.