Hurricane Francine approaching Louisiana coast as a Category 2

Approximately 10,700 customers without power

Weather conditions are beginning to deteriorate in south Louisiana as Hurricane Francine approaches the coast, and some Cleco customers are beginning to see power outages.

"Approximately 10,700 customers are without power statewide due to Hurricane Francine, with the most impacted areas being Iberia, St. Mary and St. Tammany Parishes," said Clint Robichaux, director of distribution operations and reliability.

Cleco has set up 11 staging areas across the state with materials and equipment, as well as assembled a team that includes Cleco employees and 1,755 additional line mechanics, tree trimmers and damage assessors.

"We have a proven emergency response plan, have activated our storm teams and we are ready to respond," said Robichaux.

How Cleco Restores Power During a Storm

• Once conditions are safe, workers begin to assess damage by land and air.
  
• Next, transmission and distribution lines are inspected and repaired. Transmission lines are critical to power restoration because they carry electricity from power plants to substations that deliver electricity to distribution lines which deliver electricity to homes and businesses.
  
• Power is restored to critical community services first, such as hospitals, nursing homes, water systems, fire and police departments.
  
• Power is then restored to the greatest number of customers in the shortest amount of time until power is restored to all customers who can receive power.
  

Customers can report outages by calling Cleco's customer service team at 1-800-622-6537, texting "Out" to 69378 or through the company's MyAccount app.