Thursday was a busy day for Washington-St. Tammany Electric Co-op in Franklinton. Not only were line crews restoring power to WST members, but the co-op was also mobilizing personnel to assist other cooperatives in Southeast Louisiana with restoring power following Hurricane Francine. There is a mutual aid understanding between all cooperatives. Following Katrina, Ida, and other hurricanes, mutual aid brought linemen from co-ops across the country to Washington Parish to help restore power.
Hurricane Francine at the height of the storm Wednesday evening and Wednesday night left over 24,000 WST members without power.
Francine made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane around 4 p.m.,Wednesday, resulting in widespread damage and leaving many co-op members without power. As of Thursday morning, Washington-St. Tammany Electric Cooperative is reporting roughly 24,050 outages, which is 45.3% of the total membership. Contractors, assessment teams, support teams, WST teams and others are working together in the restoration process.
A spokesman for WST said, "We are committed to having all power restored as quickly as possible. We appreciate the patience of our members."
