SUNDAY STORMS LEAD TO POWER OUTAGES, CPS ENERGY PREPARES FOR ADDITIONAL STORMS ON MONDAY, MEMORIAL DAY
(San Antonio, TX) – May 25, 2020- CPS Energy crews are continuing to respond to power outages throughout our service area. Damaging winds, heavy rain, and lightning affected power to 63, 675 customers at 11:23 p.m. on Sunday, May 24. There were 5,985 lightning strikes recorded as of 9:50 a.m. Monday, May 25. Currently, there are 91 outages affecting 445 customers.
“CPS Energy crews are working to restore power for our customers,” said Darrell Clifton, Vice President Distribution Construction & Maintenance Services for CPS Energy. “We will work around the clock to ensure all impacted customers get their power back on. Dangerous weather conditions impact our crews’ mobility, but we are working quickly and safely. We are also closely monitoring weather conditions in our service area and are ready to respond to our customers’ needs.”
Crews must be careful with flooded areas, and they’re susceptible to the same restrictions as any other driver in San Antonio. Access to certain areas can be cumbersome due to fallen trees and other obstructions.
CPS Energy responded to 67 wire down orders related to Sunday’s storms. CPS Energy reminds customers to be safe around downed power lines and to keep family members and pets away should they come across a downed wire.
According to the National Weather Service, one more round of strong to severe storms is expected tonight with isolated storms possible this afternoon. Damaging winds, large hail, and an isolated tornado are all possible. Rainfall totals of 1 to 3” are expected with isolated higher totals to 5 inches in spots. This is in addition to rain that fell last night. Flash Flooding and River flooding are both possible.
New Interactive Outage Map Provides Helpful Information
CPS Energy is encouraging customers to utilize their NEW interactive Outage Map. Customers can familiarize themselves with by viewing the tutorial video located at the Outage Center. In addition to a better look and feel, the new outage map gives users an improved experience with more detailed information about their outage. The new map refreshes every 5 minutes instead of 15, includes icons indicating when CPS Energy crew members are in the area to restore power and highlights safety hazards and potential dangers such as flooding, wires down, etc.
Outage & Safety Tips
CPS Energy is asking customers to be prepared by following these tips:
- Report your outage online with your smart phone or tablet or by calling (210) 353-HELP (4357).
- Keep cell phones, flashlights, batteries and other important items available for an unexpected power outage.
- Check CPS Energy’s new outage map. Refresh your browser for current outage updates. Also, follow our Facebook and Twitter sites for status updates. If possible, seek local TV or radio station weather reports.
- Stay away from downed power lines and report them to CPS Energy. Do NOT attempt to move or drive over the lines. Even in an outage, power lines may still have electricity running through them.
- Keep the refrigerator door closed as much as possible. Refrigerated food should be safe for up to 4 hours.
- Discard any perishable foods that have been above 40 °F for more than 2 hours. Visit the U.S. Food & Drug Administration website to learn how to keep food safe at fda.gov.
- If your neighbors have power and you do not, check your breakers.
- Keep in mind that tripped breakers account for about 20% of our service calls.
- Motorists are asked to slow their speed and use caution through the affected areas when utility crews are out restoring power.
- For additional safety tips, please visit cpsenergy.com.
- CPS Energy will continue to provide updates via social media and we ask our community for their patience as we work to safely restore power.
Follow CPS Energy on Twitter and Facebook for updates on this storm and more.
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