OG&E crews braving the heat to get power back on after storms
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – More than 1,000 line workers are braving a triple-digit heat index to restore power to thousands of people who lost it during Tuesday night’s severe storms.
A spokesperson for OG&E told News 4 the company had approximately 1,300 line workers, including some brought in from out of state, spread out across the Oklahoma City area on Wednesday making repairs to lines and power infrastructure damaged when a severe storm brought more than 80 mph straight-line winds through the east side of town on Tuesday night.
“There's about 37,000 still currently without power,” OG&E spokesperson Carson Cunningham told News 4 on Wednesday afternoon. “We know how important it is for our customers to have energy. Certainly, when it's this hot, their A/C units, they rely upon those that are critical, lifesaving, in fact.”
Cunningham says the crews still have a lot of work left to do and will likely continue working around the clock for several more days.
“With high winds up to 80 miles per hour, it really wreaks havoc on the electrical grid,” he said. “And power poles are snapped.”
The heat index got as high as 108 degrees in areas where crews were working to make the repairs on Wednesday, something Cunningham said all comes in a day’s work for line workers.
“Our line crews are the best in the business,” he said. “They deal with any type of element you can imagine.”
Prioritizing power restoration, while also prioritizing their own health and safety, can be a delicate balance for line workers.
“They are very well trained, very diligent about hydrating,” Cunningham said. “They're very diligent about every hour taking a 15-minute break to ensure that they're not getting overheated and not getting overstressed.”
Cunningham said they’ll keep at it, no matter how long it takes.
“These are their neighbors, their friends. And they take that seriously,” he said. “They also take their safety seriously as well. So… we're working around the clock, 24-7.”