By Ray King
On Wednesday, Mayor Shirley Washington predicted that most Entergy Arkansas customers in Pine Bluff who lost power as a result of the Sunday storms would have service restored. Thursday morning, she admitted that she misspoke.
“I said everybody would have power by the end of the day and that was not the case,” she said.
Speaking live with Floyd Donald, the Mayor said she meant to say that the emphasis Wednesday would be placed on restoring power to nursing homes, the hospital and medical facilities first, and then as many homes as possible.
She said that there were more than 33,000 customers who lost power as a result of the storm and early Thursday morning, that number had been reduced to 10,948.
Washington said there are 275 linemen and 111 vegetation workers involved in the restoration effort in Pine Bluff, Redfield, White Hall and Sheridan. Today, repair crews will focus on the Watson Chapel area, West 13th Avenue and West 35th Avenue and hope to have most customers safely back on by 8 p.m. Thursday night.
She said she will receive another update at 4 p.m. today and would pass the information along as soon as possible.
Listen to Mayor Washinton’s entire interview in the audio player below:
