St. Tammany Parish residents who remained in their homes to fend off Hurricane Gustav and those returning to the area in most cases will not have access to the creature comforts of home like electricity.

Cleco, which services 81,682 customers in St. Tammany Parish, reported at press time today that 42,351 customers (52 percent) were without electrical power.

Five hundred crewmembers, including some who made the trek from as far away as Delaware and Canada, are in St. Tammany Parish lending their expertise to restore electrical power in the parish. Crewmembers from surrounding states are still arriving to assist in the recovery effort. Diane Woodson of Cleco corporate communications in Pineville, La., said the transmission system repairs have been completed. "We are now focusing on our distribution system," Woodson said.

Cleco spokesperson Robbyn Cooper said Cleco crews were out today patrolling their electrical lines and assessing the damage.

"Once the assessment is completed on transformers, poles, cross arms and the lines themselves, then we determine the best and quickest way to restore power. We take an inventory of what we have to deal with," Cooper said.

The electrical power restoration priority is hospitals, nursing homes and the cities'€™ infrastructure for sewer and water plants.

Cooper said following those priorities, circuits serving the largest number of residential customers are worked on.

"The most important thing is that we ensure our transmission lines are operational, functioning without damage. They bring power to the lines that serve our customers," she said.

"We continue to work day and night," Cooper added.

Washington St. Tammany Electric, which was established in 1938, serves approximately 49,000 members.

WST Electric Manager, Member Services and Government Relations, Kurt Hellmann, said things are starting to look positive at this point.

"This is a total team effort," Hellmann said.

"We have 326 total crew members, including 200 from out of state from as far north as Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska. Included in that total are 50 crew members from Mississippi, who arrived today," Hellmann added.

This morning, WST reported 6,025 St. Tammany members without power.

"One situation we are dealing with is the Blond sub station, which is powered by CLECO. Once that problem is resolved, we will be able to get a large number of members back on line," Hellmann added.

Hellmann said there was nowhere near the infrastructure damage caused by Hurricane Gustav that was experienced with Hurricane Katrina.

"We have a lot of downed areas in remote locations. The water levels from Gustav are making it difficult to move heavy equipment in place in those remote areas," Hellmann added.

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