ARKANSAS, USA — Thousands of Arkansans are still without power after the Sunday evening storms. Utility crews have been working around the clock to get power back on for their customers as fast as they can, especially with the summer heat in full effect.
“We've dealt with a lot of storms and power outages the last several months,” said Heather Kendrick with Entergy.
Kendrick explained that the storm was the 16th one this year that has caused a large amount of power outages across Central Arkansas.
“We had storms last week that impacted the Russellville area, we had the tornado on March 31,” she added.
For the past 24 hours, their crews have been working nonstop trying to get wherever they can and doing so as quickly as possible.
“We have extensive tree damage and downed power lines, really throughout the state,” she said.
Kendrick said the hardest hit areas have been Stuttgart, Russellville, Conway, and Jacksonville.
“We've got more people without power now after this event than we did during the March 31 tornado,” said Jacksonville Mayor Jeff Elmore.
Mayor Elmore is one of the many people across the city without power.
“The storm came through roughly 5:30-6:00 p.m. yesterday and the power went out instantly and we've been without since then,” he described.
He said everyone has been working to get trees off homes and clean up the debris left behind.
“Making sure our people are fine you know that they've got a place to go it is an inconvenience not having power, especially when it is hot like this,” Elmore added.
The heat led the First United Methodist Church to open as a cooling center for those still without power.
With the temperatures expected to go up within the next few days, Entergy has already called in extra crews.
“From all our surrounding states, from Mississippi from Texas from Louisiana,” said Kendrick. “There is never an optimal time for a power outage, but on the hottest week of the year this is definitely not optimal for our customers.”
Entergy explained that restoring power is going to take multiple days. Though they know this isn't good news but they want people to be aware of how long this could take.