money LIVE BLOG: Day 4 Shreveport storm updates-recovery efforts, emergency declarations
Winds up to 80 miles per hour hit the Shreveport-Bossier area early Friday morning.
According to the National Weather Service, the storm began around 1:30 a.m. Friday, June 16 and ended a little after 2 a.m. With that storm came strong straight winds that measured up to 80 miles per hour.
Chris Nuttall with the National Weather Service said, "we had a very severe thunderstorm... the Port reported 70 miles per hour, Shreveport Regional Airport 57, Barksdale Air Force Base 56 and the Shreveport Downtown Airport. It's pretty widespread."
Monday, June 19, 2023
6:00 p.m. Several district sites and schools will reopen Tuesday, June 20th, while others will remain closed due to power outages.
The district’s Central Office sites will reopen Tuesday, June 20th.
All elementary and middle school sites will be closed on Tuesday.
High school remediation and credit recovery programs will reopen Tuesday.
JumpStart Summer programming will resume at North Caddo Tuesday and at C.E. Byrd on Wednesday.
Breakfast and lunch service will not be available Tuesday at the schools that are reopening, but is scheduled to resume Wednesday.
The feeding program remains suspended as power restoration efforts are ongoing throughout the parish.
5:30 p.m. As of noon Monday, June 19, SWEPCO has restored service to approximately 138,000 customers impacted by the severe weather that moved through the region on Friday; an estimated 112,000 remain without power.
As a result of the severe weather event, Public Service Commissioners joined with community leaders and SWEPCO to provide an update on the extent of damage and the progress made. On Monday, Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell and a delegation from Texas joined SWEPCO for a press conference to share updates on storm restoration work.
“This is the worst transmission-impacted storm I’ve ever seen in my career, and it’s the worst one we’ve had at SWEPCO,” said SWEPCO President and COO Brett Mattison.
Campbell echoed those sentiments, saying he had not seen a storm of this magnitude in northwest Louisiana since being in office.
4:43 p.m. The Parish of Caddo will host free ice distribution sites across Caddo Parish, in conjunction with the State of Louisiana and Caddo Parish Office of Homeland Security.
Ice will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
The following locations will be distributing ice on Tuesday, June 20.
Galilee Life Development Center – 1500 Pierre Avenue, Shreveport, LA (10 am-2pm)
Oil City Town Hall – 310 Savage Street, Oil City, LA (11am – 3pm)
Greenwood Acres Life Center - 7530 Greenwood Rd, Shreveport, LA (10am – 2pm)
YMCA of NWLA – 3455 Knight Street, Shreveport, LA (10am – 2pm)
Southern University at Shreveport – 3050 MLK Drive, Shreveport, LA (5pm-7pm)
Williams Memorial CME Temple - 3301 St. Matthias Drive, Shreveport, LA (10am-2pm)
4:30 p.m. Due to power outages related to recent storms in the region, these nightly bridge closures are anticipated to begin on Tuesday, June 20th and last through Friday, June 30th. These dates are dependent on power restoration and may be updated as needed.
1:19 p.m. Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux declared of state of emergency for the city. For more information click here.
12:00 p.m. The Shreveport Police Department has received complaints of price gouging by area businesses. They are asking people to report all suspected price gouging to the Louisiana Attorney General Office of State Inspector General Abuse and Fraud Hotline at 1(866)801-2549.
9:22 a.m. As of 7 p.m. Sunday, power has been safely restored to roughly 90,000 customers in a little more than two days, despite continued stormy weather and heat indices over 100 degrees.
Sunday, June 18, 2023
5:54 p.m. The Parish of Caddo has established free ice distribution sites across Caddo Parish, in conjunction with the State of Louisiana and Caddo Parish Office of Homeland Security.
Ice will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Each citizen may receive 2 bags of ice per vehicle. Citizens are strongly encouraged to bring a cooler for ice.
The following locations will be distributing ice from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. on Monday, June 19:
Galilee Life Development Center – 1500 Pierre Avenue, Shreveport, Louisiana
Oil City Community Center - 310 Savage Street, Oil City, LA
Greenwood Acres Life Center - 7530 Greenwood Rd, Shreveport, LA
YMCA of NWLA – 3455 Knight Street, Shreveport, LA
Southern University at Shreveport – 3050 MLK Drive, Shreveport, LA
Williams Memorial CME Temple - 3301 St. Matthias Drive, Shreveport, LA
4:54 p.m. U-Haul is offering 30 days of free self-storage and U-Box container usage to residents in the Ark-La-Tex region impacted by Friday’s storm.
The U-Haul disaster relief program applies to new self-storage unit rentals and is based on availability. People seeking more information or needing to arrange 30 days of free self-storage should contact the nearest participating facility.
3:39 p.m. Bossier City Mayor Tommy Chandler and the Bossier City, City Council are working together to gather the necessary logistics and resources to provide a degree of safety and comfort to those citizens in need. A statement from the mayor's office said he "is concerned with and welcomes all citizens but has set up cooling stations in an effort to assist our most vulnerable populations such as the elderly and those with medical conditions that might cause them to suffer due to the heat."
There are currently two locations set up as cooling stations. These locations will provide a cool environment, cold water and snacks.
Shady Grove Community Center 3949 Wayne Street
Stonewall Baptist Church 807 Eatman Street.
There are generators prepared for a site in South Bossier as well that will serve as a third location.
3:30 p.m. During a state, parish and city Unified Command Group meeting, Caddo Parish leaders discussed a response to the storms and the impact of the early morning storm that occurred on June 16.
During the meeting the following information was discussed:
Outages- According to SWEPCO 180,891 outages have been reported, 94,243 in Shreveport. SWEPCO is still focusing on tree and debris removal, and restoration of public safety and critical municipal infrastructure such as hospitals, nursing homes, etc. SWEPCO reports that restoration continues to be a multi-day restoration event. 2,800 line crews will be on the ground today to continue restoration operations.
Ice Distrubutions Centers – Caddo Parish is establishing free ice distribution sites across Caddo Parish on Monday, in conjunction with the State of Louisiana and Caddo Parish Office of Homeland Security. Ice will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.
3:11 p.m. The Amercian Red Cross is working alongside community partners to open a second overnight shelter in Shreveport, following the severe storms that hit the area causing widespread power outages.
Here are the Red Cross and Community Partner Shelters and locations:
Highland Center Ministries- 520 Olive St., Shreveport
NEW – Morning Star Baptist Church Life Center- 5340 Jewella Ave., Shreveport
These overnight shelters have been operating as daytime cooling centers, offering citizens the opportunity to get a break from the heat, shower and charge electronics and medical devices.
According to the Red Cross, these shelters are open to everyone in need, and all disaster assistance is free.
1:21 p.m. Bossier City Mayor Tommy Chandler reports “There are no boil advisories for any Bossier City water customers. We want to make sure that this message is communicated to ALL Businesses, and Citizens in Bossier City. Even with large areas with no power our tremendous workers in Public Utilities have been working around the clock to keep clean and safe water flowing in Bossier City.”
According to Parish Administrator Butch Ford, there are no boil advisories in Bossier Parish. In respect to customers of other water systems, they are advised to contact their local water provider for information on boil orders.
1:05 p.m. All Bossier Parish Community College campuses (Bossier City, Natchitoches and Sabine Valley) will be open on Monday, June 19, at normal operation hours. Students, faculty and staff who are in need of relief due to the ongoing power outage are welcome at the campus location nearest to them. College administrators will continue to monitor and assess the ongoing situation and will communicate future updates, as needed, via the BPCC website, e-mail and social media platforms.
12:10 p.m. Caddo Parish authorities continue to gather information during recovery efforts from the storm.
The entire Parish is NOT under a boil advisory; however, the following water systems in Caddo Parish are under an advisory and asked to boil their water at this time:
Deepwoods Water System – population 657
Bella Vista Water System – population 330
Blanchard Water System – population 15,180
There is an additional cooling center to aid citizens in North Caddo Parish. The mobile center will be located at Earl G. Williamson Park, 11425 LA-1, Oil City, LA from 1pm-6pm.
Saturday, June 17, 2023
7:06 p.m. Due to the widespread power outages, the June 20th Caddo Parish School Board meeting has been rescheduled to June 27th at 4:30 p.m.
As power restoration efforts continue throughout the parish the board will work with utility partners to provide updates on schools reopening for feeding programs, summer school, camps and other initiatives.
6:45 p.m. The American Red Cross, working alongside community partners, has opened an overnight shelter in Shreveport in the aftermath of severe storms that have reportedly left more than 200,000 people without power.
The shelter opened on Saturday at Highland Center Ministries, which had been functioning as one of several cooling centers in the area. Members of Impact Church in Shreveport will work at the shelter as Red Cross volunteers. Red Cross shelters are open to everyone in need, and all disaster assistance is free.
For more information click here.
4:30 p.m. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency for Northwest Louisiana. Read what that means here.
4:00 p.m. Bossier Parish Sheriff Julian Whittington and Bossier City Mayor Tommy Chandler announced that a cooling station has been opened in Bossier Parish.
Located at the Bossier Sheriff's Viking Drive substation at 2510 Viking Drive, it will open this evening at 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
According to the Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office, the temporary cooling station is a joint effort between Whittington and Chandler to provide a place for those affected to charge electronic devices and enjoy a cold bottle of water.
"If you are in need of some relief, please come by and cool off," said Matt Gaydos, Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office public information officer.
2:00 p.m. A representative for SWEPCO clarified the June 24 restoration time for the Shreveport area power restoration. "Our estimates are for 95 percent of customers. Based on our initial damage estimates from yesterday, we will have 95 percent of customers in the Shreveport area restored by June 24. Most will be restored sooner." An updated statement is expected later today.
Currently, SWEPCO is reporting 195,733 customers are still without power.
1:23 p.m. The Office of Homeland Security along with the City of Shreveport will hold a unified command meeting today. Please find attached a news release with details. Mayor Tom Arceneaux will make a statement after the briefing.
11:45 a.m. The Cajun Asian Food Truck and Prep Cakes Bakery have raised donations to serve the SWEPCO workers that are tirelessly working to restore power in northwest Louisiana.
Prep Cakes Bakery posted on Facebook, "my heart goes out to all our hardworking SWEPCO and or city workers working outside on outage!! If you are a SWEPCO worker and come in the bakery and show your badge, lunch is on me!!!! We have a variety of sandwiches you can choose from!"
As of Saturday morning, Prep Cakes had received $691 in donations and Cajun Asian $2,075.
Cajun Asian posted on Facebook, "with y’all’s support we were able to team up with SWEPCO and directly serve 200+ lineman this morning."
11:15 a.m. Caddo Parish reported Saturday morning that the cooling center in Blanchard no longer be serving Caddo residents due to water disruptions.
Cooling center that is closed due to water disruptions:
Northwood High School Gym, 5939 Old Mooringsport Rd, Shreveport, LA
11 a.m. The Barksdale Family Housing released an update for residents Saturday morning via an email. They told residents they do not have a scheduled time or date of restoration, but they are working closely with base leadership to keep residents informed.
According to the family housing, if the outage for the Main Base becomes prolonged, they will be opening the East Side welcome center as a cooling facility. Here are a few things they are working on at the moment:
The East Side pool is now open, and the pump is working. Please note that pool furniture was damaged during the storm, so you may want to bring a beach chair.
We will set up a main base misting station at our welcome center. The station will be open on Tuesday when the misting fans arrive.
Continued clearing of down trees and debris. This effort has taken precedence for our maintenance team. Routine work orders will be on hold for now. If you have an emergent or urgent work orders, our maintenance team will be addressing them. Please call us at 318-395-6689 so we can add your work requests to our system as soon as possible.
Should you relocate your family while waiting for power or water restorations to your home, note that Barksdale Family Housing does not reimburse temporary lodging costs and food expenses. The expense would be your responsibility as a resident due to the non-controllable weather event. We strongly encourage you to file a claim with your personal Renter’s Insurance.
10:50 a.m. Lowe’s on Youree Drive, customers line up for a chance to buy generators. Currently a store representative says they have roughly 120 in stock. Customers are receiving a piece of paper and being told they will not know how much they are or what brand, or if there are enough to serve all the customers. One employee who asked to not be identified said they are over $1,000.
7:30 a.m. SporTran announced Saturday morning that business has returned to normal service.
7:30 a.m. Caddo Parish announced that it has opened additional cooling centers following the Friday morning storm that left power outages across northwest Louisiana.
Here are the locations of the additional cooling stations that have been opened:
The Highland Center, 520 Olive Street, Shreveport, LA (10am-6pm),
Morning Star Baptist Church Life Center, 5340 Jewella Ave, Shreveport, LA (8am-8pm),
Galilee Family Life Center, 1500 Pierre Avenue, Shreveport, LA (8am-8pm)
The following Caddo Parish Schools locations will be open from 9:30am – 6:30pm:
Booker T. Washington High School (new gym), 2104 Milam Street, Shreveport, LA
J.S. Clark Elementary School Gym, 351 Hearne Avenue, Shreveport, LA
Summer Grove Elementary School, 2955 W. Bert Kouns Ind. Loop, Shreveport, LA
Summerfield Elementary Auditorium, 3131 Ardis Taylor Drive, Shreveport, LA
Northwood High School Gym, 5939 Old Mooringsport Rd, Shreveport, LA
Friday, June 16, 2023
8:37 p.m.
Due to widespread power outages, The City of Shreveport along with SPAR is extending the operatinghours of 5 recreation centers tomorrow. Each center will be open from 8:30am – 7:30 pm.Mayor Tom Arceneaux encourages any citizen who needs relief from the heat to visit one of the openrecreation centers, pools, or spray grounds to cool off.
SPAR Community Centers:• Bill Cockrell Community Center – 4109 Pines Road• Valencia Park Community Center – 1800 Viking Drive• Southern Hills Community Center – 1002 Bert Kouns Ind. Loop• A.B. Palmer Community Center – 547 E. 79th Street• Princess Park Community Center – 931 Baker StreetSPAR Pools:• David Raines Community Center – 2920 Round Grove Lane• Southern Hills Park and Community Center – 1002 Bert Kouns Ind. LoopSPAR Spray Grounds:• David Raines Community Center - 2920 Round Grove Lane• Hattie Perry Community Center – 4300 Ledbetter Street• Lakeside Park Community Center – 2200 Milam Street
8:19 p.m. Approximately 2,800 utility professionals are scheduled to arrive in the SWEPCO service territory beginning Friday evening to help restore power.
Due to excessive damage to our electrical facilities, SWEPCO customers should prepare for prolonged power outages and in some cases additional outages. Customers should prepare to be without service for an extended period.
Currently, more than 233,898 customers remain without power following the severe weather. Following initial damage assessments today, restoration estimates for areas impacted by the storm are below but could be resolved sooner. Restoration times will be updated as crews continue working to restore power.
Natchitoches service territory in Louisiana – 10 p.m., Tuesday, June 20
Texarkana service territory in Texas – 10 p.m., Wednesday, June 21
Longview service territory in Texas – 10 p.m., Friday, June 23
Shreveport service territory and surrounding communities in Louisiana – 10 p.m., Saturday, June 24
What water systems have been impacted by Friday mornings storm
6:30 p.m. According an email sent to residents of Hunt Military Housing on Barksdale Air Force Base, the "entire base community- both inside and outside the gates- does not have power. We, like you, are still waiting to hear when we can expect power to come back on."
4:42 p.m. SWEPCO reports 231,000 outages; 146,982 in Louisiana; 133,500 in Shreveport District. SWEPCO is currently focusing on tree and debris removal, and restoration of public safety and critical municipal infrastructure such as hospitals, nursing homes, etc. SWEPCO anticipates that restoration will be a multi-day restoration event.
Citizens are encouraged to sign up for the parish/city emergency alert system, Everbridge, at www.everbridge.net to receive texts and phone messages.
United Way 2-1-1 Help Line is in place to assist citizens access a variety of resources (housing, food, etc.). Citizens are encouraged to reach out to 2-1-1, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Officials urge the public to stay safe after the storm by staying away from downed power wires that may be on roadways and around fallen trees. Use generators in open areas and not inside to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.
Where are the cooling stations in Caddo Parish following Friday morning's storm
Be mindful of all posted traffic barricades and keep off roadways unless necessary.
The Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office urges anyone who received damage to their primary residence or business from the storm to report it to the Sheriff’s Homeland Security Division at 318-675-2255.
3:31 p.m. The City of Shreveport and public officials from Caddo Parish held a joint press conference to discuss the updates following the devastating storm that happened early Friday morning.
Caddo Parish Sheriff, Steve Prator said, "we are working hard, and there is hope in the future, but it is kind of the far future." According to Prator, when this storm first hit there were about 700 calls for service from first responders, and all calls have been answered.
1,100 people in the parish are feeling the impact of the lack of power resulting in water shortages. Prator said, many people in the parish are on wells which are powered by electricity.
During the press conference Mayor Tom Arceneaux advised citizens to be mindful of the heat advisory and to stay of the roads while the power is out. He said water and sewerage are not of concern at this moment, with no reported outages.
What's closed after the storms in Shreveport, Bossier City
"This is going to take a number of days and is something we are all going to have to be as patient as we can be and we will try to keep you as updated as we can," said Arceneaux. "We are confident we can get through this."
5 major roads are closed in Caddo Parish following Friday morning storm
SWEPCO external affairs manager Michael Corbin said that SWEPCO is expecting a couple of days before the power will be restored.
Click here to watch the full livestream.
3:30 p.m. Bossier City Office of the Mayor issued the following statement urging people to be safe:
“As our city and surrounding cities experience the largest power outage that we ever had it will be in some cases several days before power is restored. Mayor Chandler said that though the Bossier Police Department is doing a good job and doing the best that they can “They can not be everywhere.” Because traffic lights and street lights are out it increases the risk of danger and harm to our citizens. Police response will be delayed because of the conditions that the power outage has created. If you do not have urgent or necessary cause then citizens are encouraged to stay safe and stay off the streets. This will minimize traffic accidents and minimize the need for emergency response services. Mayor Chandler is concerned about the possibility of more inclimate weather and encourages all citizens to let’s be smart and let’s be safe as we work through the challenges created by the storm together.”
Country music star Thomas Rhett cancels Bossier City concert due to storm damage
1:20 p.m. Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office is advising residents who received damage to their home or business early this morning to report it to the Sheriff's Homeland Security Division.
To report damages, call Sheriff's Homeland Security Division at 318-675-2255.
1:08 p.m. Southwestern Electric Power Co. released information on disaster recovery. Through an emergency assessment SWEPCO crews across the area are working to recover power to more than 237,000 customers.
According to SWEPCO this storm can be described as hurricane-level. SWEPCO said, "as a result of the wide-spread damage, the restoration and recovery effort will take time and officials report that could span many days. Crews continue to assess damage to identify the extent of the severe weather impacts, equipment repairs and time needed to safely restore power."
An estimated restoration time will be shared later Friday evening, after a full assessment can be made of the situation.
11:11 a.m. The Bossier Parish Sheriff's released a statement Friday morning following the severe weather."Bossier Parish experienced severe weather during the night with heavy rain and strong winds. The severe weather knocked out power to the majority of the parish. This is due mainly to trees falling on powerlines. At this point, there is no timeline as to when power will be restored."
The statement continued by saying that deputies are working hard trying to locate downed powerlines so they can be reported to SWEPCO to be repaired.
According to BPSO, many major roadways are blocked or partially blocked at this time due to trees being blown over. Crews are working hard to clear those roads of debris, however, it is taking time.
Most of the traffic lights in the parish are not functioning at this time. "We ask that everyone exercise extreme caution if it is necessary to get on the road," said BPSO. "Deputies will be working throughout the day to help get roads cleared and power restored."
10:36 a.m. The Bossier City Mayor's Office is encouraging safety and patience in the aftermath of the major storm.
In a statement, Mayor Tommy Chandler said, he is very thankful that no fatalities have been reported but he wants to inform and assure all citizens that all agencies and City Departments are working to restore the streets and safety conditions.
He continues by saying all citizens are asked to be careful and not run over downed lines, Bossier City Fire Department along with city departments have crews out with chain saws clearing fallen trees and debris.
10:20 a.m. SporTran will be closed for the remainder of the day. This closure follows the City of Shreveport's request for traffic to clear the roads for emergency services.
10:15 a.m. The Shreveport Police Department is responding to dozens of trees down on the roadways and downed power lines. "If possible, we would like to encourage our citizens to stay off the roadways. We have numerous major intersections that are currently without traffic control devices."
10:00 a.m. People inside Willis-Knighton Piermont are reporting the hospital is currently without power.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: LIVE BLOG: Shreveport, Bossier tornado damage updates, power outages
