Acadiana residents urged to conserve power, water to avoid second day of rolling blackouts

With inclement winter weather expected to continue into Wednesday, southwest Louisiana utility companies are urging customers again to conserve electricity and water to avoid another round of rolling blackouts.

SLEMCO, Cleco, Entergy Louisiana and Lafayette Utilities System conducted rolling power outages in about 20-minute intervals across parts of Acadiana for several hours Tuesday morning. It seemed to work, as officials reported that the regional grid was back to normal operation by the afternoon.

However, the lingering sub-freezing temperatures were expected to strain the multi-state power grid that supplies customers with electricity, SLEMCO Communications Coordinator Mary Laurent said.

"All generation units in the regional system continue to operate at peak capacity to keep up with the unusually high demand for electricity," Laurent said. 

Customers are being asked to conserve electricity and water over the next 24 hours by setting heaters to 68 degrees or lower; turning off electric water heaters; turning off any faucets that may be left on or left running overnight; and reducing washing machine and dishwasher usage. 

"With temperatures below freezing in Lafayette, water conservation is essential to maintaining sufficient water pressure in the system," according to an LUS release. "Damage from frozen and burst pipes in the system can cause a drop in water pressure along with an overuse of water by customers. If water pressure drops below a certain threshold, customers will need to boil water before use."

More:Will Acadiana students have school Wednesday after winter storm?

Utility crews continued to address power outages across Acadiana on the cold Fat Tuesday. As of 4 p.m., Cleco restored power to over 10,000 of the 11,110 customers impacted by Winter Storm Uri which impacted much of the company’s service territory beginning Sunday night and into Monday morning.  . 

"We’re asking our customers to be patient and stay safe, as forecasts indicate more freezing rain, sleet and snow are possible over the next few days," said James Lass, director of distribution operations and emergency management for Cleco. "We encourage our customers to be mindful of energy conservation."

More than 2,200 Entergy customers in St. Landry also remained without power Tuesday afternoon, according to the company's outage map. 

"Entergy Louisiana’s restoration team is continuing to restore power where it is safe to do so," read a release. "Road closures due to icy conditions and other accessibility challenges due to the storm may affect our ability to reach some areas of our territory and could delay restoration in those communities."

More:Lafayette Parish man dies after slipping on ice, Louisiana Department of Health says

The company is adjusting the number of additional resources assembled based on the latest weather forecasts, officials said.

"Our restoration and damage assessment teams are staged and ready to respond once conditions are safe," reads a release.

Along with standard storm preparations, Entergy employees are navigating the COVID-19 pandemic by taking additional steps. Crews are practicing social distancing and ask that customers do the same, according to a release.

A hard freeze warning remains in effect Tuesday for all of southwest Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service in Lake Charles. A wind chill warning is in effect for parishes north of Interstate 10 for wind chill values below zero. A wind chill advisory is in effect along and south of I-10.

Temperatures are forecast to be warmer Wednesday, with temps as high as 44 degrees, but there is a high chance of rain, which could contribute to dangerous road conditions for another day. More ice is expected as the rain continues and temperatures drop again Thursday.

Customers also are reminded to operate portable generators outdoors in well-ventilated areas and to plug appliances directly into generators with grounded extension cords. Never plug a generator into a wall outlet.

Contact children's issues reporter Leigh Guidry at lguidry@theadvertiser.com or on Twitter @LeighGGuidry.