AUSTIN, Texas — More than 300,000 customers in the southern United States were still without power following weekend storms, prompting residents to seek help as high temperatures continue to grip the region.
At least one person in Oklahoma has died due to prolonged power outages, officials said.
The vast majority of power outages occurred in Oklahoma, where intense storms Saturday night were bringing winds of up to 80 mph to the immediate vicinity of Tulsa, according to the National Weather Service.
Some 165,000 customers in various parts of the city were still without power Monday as crews scrambled to repair more than 700 damaged poles and downed wiring, said Amy Brown, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Public Service Company.
A person wearing a respirator was killed by the power outage, Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum said at a news conference.
Electricity companies warned that some of the outages might not be fixed until later in the week, and Bynum urged residents to consider family members and neighbors who rely on electronic medical equipment.
“Please, check that they are well,” he stressed.
In total, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana had more than 300,000 customers without power as of Monday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.
In Louisiana, authorities closed more than 20 state offices on Monday due to risks from bad weather.
Find out the details here.
In addition to the blackouts, the heat wave continued to bring dangerous temperatures in the 100s to Texas, putting parts of the state under excessive heat advisories that would continue through at least Wednesday.
“It’s been unbearable,” Leigh Johnson, a resident of Mount Vernon, Texas, complained to Dallas television KXAS. She hasn’t had electricity for about three days.
“It’s been horrible because the heat index has been so high that we’ve literally had to take cold baths to cool off. Our animals too, we are having to put them in the bathtub just to prevent them from having a heat stroke; that’s how difficult it has been, ”he lamented.
Some 4,000 customers were still waiting for power to be restored in the Texas town of Perryton after a devastating tornado struck last week.
The blackouts also spread to Mississippi, where some people had trouble getting medicine after power outages forced pharmacies and grocery stores to close, according to WLBT-TV.
As crews worked to restore service in Mississippi, multiple tornadoes ripped through the state overnight, killing one person and injuring nearly 20 others.
