After Gov. Kevin Stitt declared a disaster emergency for 47 counties on Oct. 26, about 13,000 people are still without power in Norman, according to a Facebook update from Ward 2 councilmember Joe Carter.
In the update, Carter wrote that Oklahoma Gas & Electric told him that as the service makes progress, they continue to have trees falling on power lines, which creates new outages. In an OG&E Twitter update at 9 a.m., the company stated crews have “restored power for more than 100,000 customers” statewide and “about 253,000 are out.”
OG&E Spokesperson David Kimmel said in the Norman area, there are “just under 13,000” customers without power as of 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. The company has over 2,000 crewmen in the Oklahoma City metro area working to restore power, with more mobilizing from out of state, Kimmel said.
Gov. Stitt included Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Cimarron, Cleveland, Comanche, Cotton, Creek, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Garfield, Garvin, Grady, Grant, Geer, Harmon, Harper, Jackson, Jefferson, Kay, Kingfisher, Kiowa, Lincoln, Logan, Major, McClain, Noble, Okfuskee, Oklahoma, Osage, Pawnee, Payne, Pottawatomie, Roger Mills, Seminole, Stephens, Texas, Tillman, Tulsa, Washington, Washita, Woods and Woodward counties in his declaration. According to the executive order, the declaration is effective until Nov. 9.
“Outage numbers may increase with today's precipitation and as ice melts,” OG&E said in a Tweet. “Once the system has passed, we can have a clearer picture of how long restoration will take.”
Update 10/28, 9 a.m. (1 of 2): Crews have restored power for more than 100,000 customers; about 253,000 are out. Outage numbers may increase with today's precipitation and as ice melts. Once the system has passed, we can have a clearer picture of how long restoration will take. pic.twitter.com/eeIolgMpKZ
— OG&E (@OGandE) October 28, 2020
Carter said in his update that OG&E told him “this is one of the worst events or worst ever event in OGE history,” and a company employee estimated it will take “several days” to get all outages corrected.
The Daily has reached out to the City of Norman and OU for comment. This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Blake Douglas contributed to this report.
