OG&E Crews Work Around The Clock To Restore Power To Sulphur Residents

Following Saturday’s swath of tornadoes, OG&E has been working around the clock to restore power to customers. 

“Power is restored to everyone that can take power,” said Terry Looney, OG&E Area Supervisor. 

During the outage peak, OG&E reported 46,000 customers were without power. By Wednesday, the number of outages had dramatically reduced to 600. 

65 crews from OG&E have spent the past four days clearing trees and debris from powerlines and repairing them to restore some sense of normalcy to communities turned upside down.

“All of a sudden, you could feel it and then you could hear it,” said Sulphur resident Shannon Tucker. 

Shannon Tucker and her family were inside their Sulphur home Saturday as an EF-3 tornado bore down. “It was just me and my husband and my dog. The sound it was just like oghhhhhh,” said Tucker. 

Tucker said her family had huddled in a hallway. “We were just holding each other and praying and asking for safety,” said Tucker. 

She said it felt like their home was going to be ripped from its foundation. “It felt like the house was going to be sucked up,” said Tucker. 

But within seconds silence followed. 

Reporter: All of a sudden it went quiet?

“Yeah, it’s like, and then it was over,” said Tucker. 

While their home sustained minimal damage, much of the town was wiped out. “I just started crying because I couldn’t believe the devastation two blocks from my house,” said Tucker. 

Within hours, the cavalry in the form of linemen came rolling in on orange trucks. 

Terry Looney, OG&E Area Supervisor lives in neighboring Davis, OK. “Just devastation where do you start?” said Looney. 

So far, 350 broken poles and 60,000 feet of power lines have been replaced by OG&E. The work was completed in areas many of them call home. “It is so rewarding to be able to help especially a friend and a neighbor,” said Looney 

“I can’t believe two and a half days later we have power, they have worked nonstop,” said Tucker. 

Tucker said their community was forever grateful to those who have been a light in a time of darkness. “Just people from all over coming to help and it’s just been amazing and a blessing,” said Tucker. 

To combat looting, an emergency curfew remains in place from 8:00 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. 

Under the curfew, no one is allowed downtown or in residential areas east of Sulphur City limits.