LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Entergy crews are preparing for mass power outages across central and southern Arkansas Thursday.
"At this point, the best we can offer in terms of predictions is that it may be a multi-day outage," David Lewis said.
David Lewis is a spokesperson for Entergy. He said social distancing precautions put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 could slow down restoring power.
"Normally we travel two guys in a truck, but where we are now we're down to just one guy per truck," Lewis said.
Twelve hundred workers are staged in strategic locations around the state to respond to outages after the storm has passed.
"How many days you ask? We can’t say. We have to wait and see how bad the damage is," Lewis said. “Customers should assume that they’re going to be without power for a couple of days."
Crews will restore power in areas where emergency facilities are first. Then they will move on to the next largest service area where most people are affected.
"An outage may last five minutes if it's a small fix and we can get to it quickly or it may last many days depending on the circumstances around that particular outage," Lewis said.
Little Rock Public Works crews will be on call Thursday night to help with flooding or downed trees. Tree removal equipment and barricades are being prepared, in the case we see high winds and flash flooding in the metro area.
Little Rock police are also ready to block off any streets that may be underwater.
"Any high winds are going to be bad and if the ground is already really saturated, as it probably will be by then, trees are more likely to fall over onto power lines," Lewis said.
Lewis recommends setting up your phone to get updates on outages in your neighborhood.
"You can get information about progress that we're making in restoring power through the Entergy app," he said.
If your power does go out, do not open your fridge. Lewis recommends putting water bottles in your freezer now to help keep your food cooler for longer.