Update 5 p.m. Wednesday, 4/29: A week ago, part of our area was devastated by an EF-3 tornado. Early this morning, another round of storms caused over 10,000 members to lose service.
This afternoon, the final primary tap was reconnected in Onalaska. Service to almost all homes that can safely receive electricity has been restored from both the tornado and today's storm. There's just 60 locations without service, and crews are working to restore those locations now.
The power is on, but we know the work is not done in the area impacted by the tornado. We will continue to work with members to connect services as they become safe to do so. Please call us at 800-458-0381 if you need assistance.
We appreciate the hard work by our employees and contractors. We are also grateful for the support our members have provided. It's an honor to serve you and be your trusted energy partner. #PowerOn
Prior service updates:
Members: if your meter loop was damaged by the tornado, please call 800-458-0381, and let us know when your meter loop is repaired and safe to receive service. If Co-op facilities (poles, transformers, lines to your meter) have been repaired as well, an order will be made to set your meter and connect your service.
Update 8:45 a.m. Monday, 4/27: There will be a brief outage while service to Onalaska area returns to normal substation operation.
Entergy restored transmission service to our Onalaska substation Sunday night. We will be switching that area off our mobile substation, and back to our Onalaska sub, this morning. There will be a brief outage, most likely sometime before 10:00 a.m., while we switch that area back to normal substation operation.
Update 6:30 p.m. Sunday, 4/26: We’ve covered a lot of ground and made good progress today. As of 6:25 p.m. there are 775 without power.
- Emerald Cove will be on later tonight (Sunday).
- Lakeshore N & S (Paradise Acres 1) is expected to be energized Monday afternoon.
- Texas Acres: Expecting to get 3-phase on sometime Monday. Still a lot of severely damaged homes.
- Yaupon Cove: We’ve made good progress and should be able to energize 3-phase Monday so water wells can get going again. There’s still a good amount of work to do, and many severely damaged homes, throughout Yaupon Cove.
- There are a few other scattered outages. Crews are assigned and working on those as well.
We are getting closer to the point where service can be restored to all locations that are safe to receive power. We will continue to post updates. Thank you, and be safe.
Update: 2:45 p.m. Sunday, 4/26
Crews have energized the main double circuit coming down FM 3459 into Onalaska. They are moving through the area and energizing sections that are safe and ready to receive power. We are slightly behind our noon estimates in those areas, but the guys are on a roll now. Please refer to the previous post (9:30 a.m.) for a few more details. We will post updated projections this evening. Also, we’d like to share with you a short video message from some of the guys out there in the field. Thank you all!
Update 9:30 a.m. Sunday, 4/26
Today’s good weather and cool temps are a great help as crews are continuing their efforts to rebuild and restore electric service to the 1,800 who are without power this morning.
The following areas are on pace for restoration around noon today (Sunday):Leisure Wood, Emerald Cove, Paradise Acres 1, Texas Acres, and Canyon Park.
These by 2:00 p.m. today: Wells Landing, Sportsman’s Retreat.
And these by 9:00 p.m. this evening: Ponderosa Drive, Kickapoo Creek Drive, Pine Harbor (areas not energized yesterday).
We also have a lot of crews working in the heavily damaged areas of Yaupon Cove and Creeklake Drive. The estimate for completing restoration there is Wednesday, although some sections may come back online a bit before then.
If you are along FM 356 or 3459 and are not part of any particular subdivision, please refer to the estimated time for the subdivision closest to you. While this may not apply in every situation, it is a reasonable estimate of when power might be restored to your location.
Please keep in mind that restoration may be delayed to locations at which there is significant damage to an individual home or business, until repairs are made and it becomes safe for that location to receive electric service. Stay safe.
Update 6:45 p.m. Saturday, 4/25
When crews attempted to energize Wells Landing and Sportsman's Retreat this evening, a direct fault occurred. They are working on it, but due to the remote location of the fault and the repairs that are required, it may be noon tomorrow (Sunday) before power is restored in those two areas. We are striving to provide accurate time estimates, but unforeseen things like this sometimes alter those projections. We will do our best to keep you informed. Hang in there. We're still working on it!
Updated 4:30 p.m. Saturday, 4/25:
Our engineers will be able to utilize the mobile substation that was installed near Carlisle last night, to feed power to a large section toward Onalaska. When Entergy completes transmission repairs to our Onalaska and Carlisle substations, we will switch back to those substations. In the meantime, the mobile substation will adequately handle the load as power is restored in other areas.
Our linemen, along with all the crews who are here helping, have made good progress. The following table shows estimates of when power is expected to be on in the various subdivisions. Subdivisions will come on in sections as repairs are completed.
Today (Saturday)
4:00 pm Paradise Acres 2/3 & Creekside
9:00 pm Pine Harbor
9:00 pm Wells Landing & Sportsmen's Retreat
9:00 pm Triple Creek
Sunday
12:00 noon Leisure Wood
12:00 noon Emerald Cove
12:00 noon Paradise Acres 1
12:00 noon Texas Acres
12:00 noon Canyon Park
9:00 pm Ponderosa Dr
9:00 pm Kickapoo Creek Dr
Wednesday
9:00 pm Yaupon Cove
9:00 pm Creeklake Dr
Keep in mind that severely damaged individual locations may be delayed until repairs to the home will allow it to safely receive power.
In Yaupon Cove, one of the areas that sustained the most damage, crews are replacing 81 broken poles and 30,000 feet of wire.
We understand your need for power, and we are working hard to get there. Thank you so much for your continued support and patience.
Updated 10:00 a.m. Saturday, 4/25: Crews have restored power to 12,000 since the tornado hit this past Wednesday evening. We still have almost 500 linemen, tree crews and others working on the remaining 2,153 without power.
Our hope is to restore power to a good number of those by this evening. However, a significant portion of the homes were severely damaged and cannot safely receive electricity until repairs are made to the home.
Here’s a partial list of some of the areas where work continues today. Pine Harbor, Paradise Acres, Creekside, Emerald Cove, Yaupon Cove, Triple Creek, Texas Acres, Canyon Park, Sportsman’s Retreat, Wells Landing.
Additionally, there are several crews working in other areas where there are individual outages.
For your safety and those working, please slow down and move over if you drive by them. Thank you, and please stay safe.
Update 9:30 p.m. Friday, 4/24:
The mobile substation is up and going, and lights are on for another 2,000+ Co-op members tonight. Click here to see a video of the moment the substation was connected.
You may note that on our outage map viewer, the number of outages shown is significantly higher than the actual outage count of 3,341. This is due to some maneuvering that was done to get power restored in some of the areas around Onalaska yesterday. At some point, the outage map viewer will catch up and be up to date. But the important thing is that power is on to 2,000 more members, and a lot of progress is being made.
Many crews were working in the subdivisions around Onalaska today, and they will still be in there tomorrow (Saturday). Entergy is still projecting they will have transmission service into Sam Houston Electric Cooperative’s Onalaska substation sometime Sunday. At that point, we should be able to energize a significant number of Co-op members around Onalaska.
Special shout out and thanks to everyone who worked so hard to get the mobile sub going. Super job! And thanks for your extra attention to working safely through all this.
And thank you to all our members for your continued support and patience.
Updated 5:00 p.m. Friday, 4/24:
With Entergy transmission service to Sam Houston EC’s Carlisle substation not expected until Tuesday, our crews rolled out our mobile substation and are setting it up. The plan is to be able to restore power to approximately 2,000 Co-op members later tonight (Friday). It’s a big task, and we can’t promise power will be on in that area tonight, but we’re doing everything we can to make it happen! Visit our Facebook page for a video of the mobile substation.
If all goes well, Co-op members in these areas could see power come back on sometime tonight. (Sebastopol, Chita, Pine Harbor, Barrett’s Landing, White Rock, Hawg Heaven, Hart’s Creek, Harbor Point, Trinity, and adjoining areas.)
Updated 12:15 p.m. Friday, 4/24:
Sebastopol and Chita are also fed from the Carlisle substation, which is currently not receiving power from the Entergy transmission lines that supply it. Entergy is repairing their damaged facilities as well, and they expect to re-energize those lines on Tuesday. However, Sam Houston EC engineers, technicians, linemen and other operations crews are setting up a mobile substation this afternoon that may allow us to re-energize a good portion of the area late tonight. This is a big task, and we cannot promise results by tonight, but every effort is being made to safely restore power to those areas. (Sebastopol, Chita, Pine Harbor, Barrett’s Landing, White Rock, Hawg Heaven, Hart’s Creek, Harbor Point, and adjoining areas.)
Updated at 9:30 a.m. Friday, 4/24:
There approximately 500 line technicians, tree crews, and others working to restore power.
Because of some unique circumstances related to the restoration process, the total outages on our outage map viewer show to be higher than the true number outages. Currently, the viewer shows 6,106 meters out. The actual number of outages is significantly lower at 4,759. The vast majority of those are around Onalaska and Carlisle.
Most of our repair work is complete in the Carlisle area, but our substation is not yet receiving transmission from the transmission provider (Entergy). They (Entergy) are expected to be working on their damaged facilities today. When their repairs are complete (they estimate by Tuesday), we will be able to energize our Carlisle substation. In the meantime, our engineers and operations crews are working on an alternate solution that may allow us to energize that area much sooner.
Areas served by Carlisle substation include, Pine Harbor, Barrett’s Landing, White Rock, Hawg Heaven, Heart’s Creek.
Creekside and Texas Acres, also in that area, are in rough shape. But we have crews working in there and will provide information as it becomes available.
As you know, subdivisions around Onalaska were heavily damaged. Areas currently without power and served by our Onalaska substation include Yaupon Cove, Canyon Park, Sportsman’s Retreat, and Wells Landing.
A lot of crews are working there, and we are expecting good progress over the next couple of days. Entergy expects to have transmission service to our Onalaska substation by Sunday. However, we are looking at alternate solutions to get power to some of those areas sooner as well.
To the east, around Seven Oaks, Moscow, FM 942 & 350, we expect to finish that area and have the lights back on today, with the possible exception of one or two severe cases.
With so many vehicles and crews in the area, please be mindful of them and if you drive past them, move over and slow down for safety. Additional details will be available later.
Thank you again for your support and patience.
4 p.m., April 23 Update:
It’s hard work. And Sam Houston Electric Cooperative linemen are really good at it.
Kudos to our engineers as well. They coordinated with our operations department to re-feed power and were able to energize a significant portion of Onalaska, along the south side of Hwy 190. This included more than 1,300 residential and business meters.
Power has been restored to the main part of Onalaska and all areas south of town to the big bridge. Areas that now have power include Idlewilde, Impala Woods, Twin Harbors, Bridgeview and Old Town Onalaska. (Although they do have power now, those meters will not yet show to be restored in our online outage map viewer.)
We are making progress on the feeders that provide service to other subdivisions as well. A lot of work is going on along FM 356. At this time, however, we are not yet receiving transmission service at our Carlisle and Onalaska substations.
There will be quite a number of our crews in those subdivisions tomorrow (Friday), and we will continue efforts so that we’ll be able to restore as many areas as possible, once we begin receiving transmission.
Efforts to the east, around Seven Oaks, Bold Springs and Colita are moving along, but most likely will go into tomorrow before power is back on. The Triple Creek area is in rough shape and will likely not be restored until after tomorrow.
Thank you all for your patience and encouragement. We’re still going! Stay safe and please avoid downed lines.
11 a.m., April 23 Update:
The National Weather Service reported a significant tornado near Onalaska, on a track toward Seven Oaks and North Tyler County on Wednesday evening.
Transmission lines that deliver electricity to several Sam Houston EC substations were damaged, and 13,823 Co-op members lost service due to the storm.
Overnight, crews restored power to 6,000 consumer-members. The Point Blank area was the largest section to be restored. We expect some, but not all, power to be restored today near Seven Oaks, Leggett, Colita and Bold Springs. There are some extreme cases in those areas that will extend beyond today (April 23).
Our transmission provider is working on the large transmission lines that bring power to this area, and Sam Houston EC is working on the distribution lines that serve our members. It’s a team effort, and the team that’s working on this is outstanding.
While the outlook for progress looks promising, there are some areas that will not be restored today. More details will become available as the day progresses.
The Onalaska area experienced the most widespread and extreme damage. Yaupon Cove, Canyon Park, Creekside, and other subdivisions were hit hard by the tornado. We have many Co-op crews, as well as additional contractors and tree crews, working all over that area. They are coordinating with local emergency management officials, to gain safe access and continue restoration work.
Your safety, and the safety of everyone working to restore power, is paramount. Trees on power lines can be extremely dangerous for many reasons. Please do not approach downed lines, and please don't attempt to cut trees off of power lines.
We have all hands on deck today and we are working to restore your power. Our hearts go out to all those impacted. You're in our prayers. Stay safe, and check our online outage map viewer to monitor progress.
Please follow our Facebook page for additional updates. Avoid downed lines. Help keep our crews safe by social distancing. And as always, stay safe.
