Hurricane Report No. 6
8:30 a.m., July 21, 2005
 
Telling It Briefly:
 

• As of 8:30 a.m. Thursday, approximately 7,055 electric consumers in the Rio Grande Valley were without power. This number is down from a peak number of 27,500 in the wake of Hurricane Emily.  
• Power restoration for 95% of electric customers in the hardest hit areas is expected to be completed by 9 p.m. Friday.
• Although the full force of the hurricane did not hit the Rio Grande Valley, the Valley did experience very extreme weather conditions for an extended period of time over a large area.  Consequently, service restoration will take longer for some customers than restoration activities following a smaller storm.   

 
Power Restoration Continues in Rio Grande Valley
 
Charles Patton, AEP President and Chief Operating Officer, said about 95% of customers in the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Emily will have power restored by 9 p.m. Friday.
 
“We want to give electric consumers a realistic restoration completion time so they can make necessary arrangements,” he said.
 
Restoration information will be communicated through the news media, the AEP Customer Solution Center and on aeptexas.com.
 
The following chart gives current outage totals and estimated times of restoration for areas impacted in the Rio Grande Valley.
 
 

IMPACTED AREAS	Outage Number at 7 a.m.	Ninety Five Percent of the outages AEP Texas has been made aware of and where the customer is capable of taking service should have service restored by the following time.
Edinburg	243	9 p.m. Thursday
Harlingen	637	9 p.m. Friday
McAllen	860	9 p.m. Thursday
Mission	435	9 p.m. Thursday
Pharr	2,800	9 p.m. Thursday
Port Isabel/South Padre Island	1,792	9 p.m. Friday
Rio Grande City	23	9 p.m. Thursday
San Benito	265	9 p.m. Friday

• Customers using portable generators are asked to follow hook-up instructions carefully.   An incorrectly installed generator can feed into the electric system, causing a hazard to employees working on power lines. 
• To report a fallen power line or electric hazard, or to report an outage, call 1-866-223-8508.    All power lines should be considered energized and dangerous. Don’t touch anything in contact with the line such as trees, fences or puddles of water since they can conduct electricity.   Because of the likelihood that the storm will cause many lines to fall, customers are asked to keep their children and pets inside. 
• Residents are asked to turn on their porch lights to help patrolling crews determine the areas that have power and areas that are still without power.  
• Electric customers with damaged service entrances must first get necessary repairs by an electrician and obtain any necessary electrical permits before service can be connected.